Looking back to a successful edition of the Harvest Money Expo 2022
After a digital edition in 2021, this year’s Harvest Money Expo took place physically again, since Uganda relaxed the covid measures.
The Expo is a three day agricultural event, bringing together farmers and practitioners of the agricultural sector.
Physical event after a digital edition last year
You could feel the excitement in the Netherlands Village, where exhibitors where eager to do business face to face again and meet potential partners and clients. Anja de Feijter of House of Seeds says ‘The Netherlands village was a great opportunity to showcase all our new products and plans, and to interact after 2 years in real life again with all our business relations’.
Official opening of the Expo at The Netherlands Village
The annual Harvest Money Expo is an initiative of Vision Group. The Netherlands Embassy is a sponsor by organizing the Netherlands Village, a place where Dutch companies, Dutch-Ugandan companies and partners in business of The Netherlands get the opportunity to exhibit, receive guests, meet potential clients and partners, do business and organize and attend workshops.
On the first day, the Harvest Money Expo was officially opened at The Netherlands Village by Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Frank Tumwebaze, The Ambassador of the Netherlands in Uganda Karin Boven and the CEO of Vision Group Don Wanyama.
In her speech, Ambassador Karin Boven said: ‘The Netherlands Government and the Embassy in particular, is very delighted and proud to be part of this Expo. Like the previous occasions, we strive to make the Netherlands Village a key feature of the Harvest Money Expo.’
Adding value to your business
The theme of this Expo was ‘Farming as a business – Value edition’. A very relevant theme, as The Netherlands is a country where agriculture is one of the main drivers of economic growth and prosperity. Farming can be profitable, can raise the incomes and livelihoods of millions of farmers and can create much needed jobs for the youth.
One of the exhibitors called Mercy Atugonza, the managing director Banura Coffee (working with the SAY project of AVSI) says ‘The Netherlands Village has been a great experience to us. We have been able to do networking with different farmers, and got new connections in the coffee industry. And clients were very willing to buy from us at our stand.’
Media attention for The Netherlands Village
There was a lot of media attention for The Netherlands Village. Several colleagues of the Embassy of The Netherlands in Uganda where interviewed for TV and in the papers, live talk shows and panels where hosted at the village and plans were even made for a monthly talk show about agriculture on Ugandan TV.
In the masterclass tent, a very nice variety of masterclasses about different subjects were given by the exhibitors. Subjects like soil fertility, value addition to bee products and Dutch dairy development were all discussed. There was something for everyone.
At the matchmaking tent, people came together to discuss their business and the possibilities to cooperate in the future.
See you next year!
The Netherlands village has provided a snapshot of what the Netherlands has to offer in Food Security, Private Sector Development and especially Agribusiness. It has brought out a touch of Dutch culture and allowed people to share and learn from each-other. We look very much forward to next year!