The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), in partnership with Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) and Uganda Development Bank Limited (UDBL), and with support from the European Union, launched the Support to Agricultural Revitalization and Transformation (START) Facility.

The Facility is intended to offer access to affordable medium-term finance for agricultural value adding projects in Northern Uganda through provision of Business Development Services and seed capital in the form of concessional loans, grants and partial guarantees.

START is expected to contribute to increased food security, improved maternal and child nutrition, and enhanced household incomes as a key outcome of  the Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU). DINU is a Government of Uganda programme supported by the European Union for an amount of 132,8 Mio EUR (approximatively 603 billion UGX).

START  geographic coverage is aligned with DINU geographic coverage, i.e. it  comprises 33 districts in Northern Uganda as listed  below;

START will support development and financing of capital-intensive agricultural projects promoted by small and medium enterprises that add value in storage and processing of agricultural products. START will take into account the impact of the complementary activities for food production and commercial agriculture.

START addresses the “middle missing” gap in agricultural finance targeting projects with a financing requirement from 10,000 EUR (approximately UGX 40 million) to 100,000 EUR (approximately 4 billion UGX). It will closely cooperate and coordinate with other financing and technical facilities supporting agriculture in Uganda.

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