Dear friends of the UCF:

A message to all the people who have supported our work over the years  |  Written on March 16, 2026 by UCF founder Anthony Kalulu.

I would like to thank you for the support you have accorded us over the years.

One thing I wanted to acknowledge, however, is that the UCF’s current business model of providing rural poor farmers with free inputs (seed, tarpaulins, spray pumps etc), isn’t really sustainable. That said, keeping our work running is what will eventually enable us to transition our work to a fully self-sustaining approach. So, I am writing to ask for your continued support, to enable us keep our work running, especially our sorghum project.

 

Catalyzing self-sustainability was our founding goal:

From the very beginning, my belief was that the only way to end extreme poverty is by giving the extreme poor themselves the means to become more productive — a means of ending poverty with their own hands — and in a farming community like ours, that has a lot to do with access to markets, which is currently the biggest challenge rural poor smallholder farmers in our region face. That remains my standpoint even today.

It is why I have spent years trying to build an integrated agro-processing plant that would place the rural poor in our region on a self-sustainable path from poverty by creating markets for various crops. Except we haven’t yet raised the needed support.

 

Scaling down goals:

 

Status of our work in the last 2 years:

In 2024, our white sorghum project worked with many rural farmers both in Kamuli & Buyende districts (photos are on this page, and in this Microsoft OneDrive folder).

In 2025, though, our work was on a standstill, both because of hardships in raising support for our farmers’ inputs (and our field team), and a belief that we needed to first focus on our goal of catalyzing self-sustainability, at least with a grain facility alone.

This facility, if installed, would connect rural farmers in our region with institutional buyers, from the international relief agencies like the UN’s WFP (currently the biggest buyer of grains in Africa), to all breweries in East Africa. This, in turn, would give these farmers the motivation to produce more, and hence the ability to self-sustain their work.

 

In short:

So, in 2026, I’m asking for your continued support to keep our white sorghum project running. Rains for this first planting season (March – July) have begun, and planting continues until the end of April. Every contribution, no matter the size, helps us stay operational and move closer to our long-term goal of attaining true self-sustainability.

You can support us using any of the methods shown on this page, or even via phone.

Contributing via phone is instant, offers better rates than local banks, and has lower fees. To support us this way, send your contribution to our phone +256 782 601073 using either WorldRemit.com or Remitly.com (Note: per our mobile carrier guidelines, the maximum amount that you can send in a single transaction is Ugx 4.5m or ~$1,300).

 

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