Potato growers' cooperative leads climate resilience in Uganda
The Kisoro District in southern Uganda is known for its lush green valleys, rocky hills and biodiverse ecosystems. However, the landscape faces significant climate impacts, becoming vulnerable to soil erosion, flooding and shifting rainfall patterns.
This poses a risk to environment and livelihoods alike, with declining soil fertility, lower agricultural productivity and high climate vulnerability of staple crops like potatoes. Smallholder farmers experience reduced yields due to erratic weather, prolonged dry spells and crop diseases.
To address these challenges in Uganda and other regions across East Africa, the Climate Resilient Agribusiness for Tomorrow (CRAFT) project supports local agribusinesses and cooperatives in scaling climate-smart agriculture. The project connects smallholder farmers to climate-adaptive technologies, finance and markets, making resilience practical and sustainable.
Kisoro District Potato Growers Cooperative Union, (KDPGCU) recognised by CRAFT as a 'business champion', is leading the way in this landscape. The Cooperative promotes climate-smart potato farming, improves access to quality inputs and training, and enables collective marketing.
At the heart of this cooperative is David, a farmer actively promoting resilience in his community.
The green valleys of Kisoro District in Uganda host diverse ecosystems and provide fertile soils for agriculture. However, increasing climate impacts, such as shifting rainfall patterns and soil erosion, pose a threat to local environment and livelihoods.
David’s journey to climate resilience
David Semakuba, a 66-year-old potato farmer from Kangoma Village in Kisoro, shows that change is possible when climate-smart agriculture is combined with strong local support. As his community faces multiple climate-related challenges, David is leading by adapting his farming practices and empowering others to do so.
Despite losing sight in one eye due to an accident decades ago, he refused to let this define his future. Drawing on his KDPGCU membership, years of traditional farming knowledge, and the support of his wife Gloria, he adopted climate-smart solutions, such as improved seed varieties like Taurus, combing potato crops with beans and optimising spacing, to counter the unpredictable weather and safeguard his harvest.
These changes have not only stabilised David’s production but diversified his income, supporting his family and securing education for his children.
David and his wife Gloria care for their potato crop, using climate-smart methods like intercropping potatoes with beans to boost resilience.
Farmers in Kisoro District are adopting climate-resilient potato varieties like Taurus to strengthen their harvests.
We farm together, planning for the next season, preparing the garden, planting, harvesting, and investing our profits.
David SemakubaPotato farmer and KDPGCU member
David’s success goes beyond his own plot. His farm now serves as a demonstration site and training ground for more than 25 local farmers, including nine women.
As a Trainer of Trainees within the Cooperative, he passes on climate-smart skills and supports community-wide resilience, especially empowering persons with disabilities through access to grants and knowledge.
We people with disability got a special grant from the Parish Development Fund. I used the money to buy improved potato seed and this has helped me improve the livelihood of my family.
David SemakubaPotato farmer and KDPGCU member
Kisoro potato growers’ cooperative: Championing local resilience
The Kisoro District Potato Growers Cooperative Union Ltd (KDPGCU), established in 2014, shows the power of locally led innovation and collaboration.
This cooperative is dedicated to strengthening the resilience of potato growers in Kisoro by promoting climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices and facilitating cooperative action.
Specifically, KDPGCU supports its members with access to improved seed varieties, climate-adaptive farming techniques like crop rotation and optimal spacing, and collective marketing power. By pooling resources and knowledge, the cooperative improves access to quality inputs, training and markets, which significantly improves farmers’ productivity and income.
Today, KDPGCU links over 4,000 farmers across multiple cooperative societies. This network supplies potatoes to large markets in Kampala, institutions, restaurants, and exports to Rwanda.
Climate-smart agriculture and collective marketing are improving local resilience in Kisoro District, Uganda.
CRAFT and scaling climate resilience in East Africa
KDPGCU’s support to farmers like David is strengthened through its partnership with CRAFT, a regional initiative that ran from 2018 to 2025 across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
CRAFT, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and working with SNV and partners, helped agribusinesses and smallholder farmers adopt inclusive, market-driven and climate-smart business models. The project fostered access to climate-resilient seed varieties, finance, value chain linkages and policy influence.
In Uganda alone, CRAFT collaborated with over 20 agribusiness champions and reached more than 150,000 farmers.
Across the three countries, the project reached more than 320,000 farmers and over 350 agribusinesses. Around 220,000 farmers reported greater resilience, and 157,996 hectares of farmland became climate resilient.
David’s story and the example of KDPGCU highlight broader lessons for climate action.
Climate-smart agriculture is most effective when local smallholders are in the front seat, and equipped with direct access to finance, markets and decision-making power.
Investments channelled straight to farmers catalyse innovation and sustainability. Strong local action and buy-in ensures that resilience endures beyond donor support, setting the stage for systems transformation at scale.