Our Background & History

The Agency for Development of Young Farmers in Uganda (ADYOFU) is a registered youth-founded and youth-focused non-governmental organization. We started in 2010 as a Community Based Organization (CBO), were incorporated in 2016 as a charity company limited by guarantee, and registered in 2017 as an indigenous Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Uganda.

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The Context of Karamoja

ADYOFU supports young people—girls and boys, women and men, persons with disabilities, and those with special needs—to overcome socio-economic, political, and cultural constraints that hinder their economic enabling and right to food, water, health, education, security, and leadership development.

The history of the Karamoja sub-region and Abim district in particular has been characterized by severe, unfortunate incidences of gross violation of human rights, accompanied by acute hunger and starvation. For over 50 years, the community experienced massive and wanton killings and livestock rustling. Communities were forced to vacate fertile plains and resettle near hills and administrative headquarters for safety, losing almost all assets of production.

These years of conflict led to apathy and redundancy. Communities became destitute, depending on handouts from the Government and United Nations agencies. To date, many youth and their families remain impoverished, with some resorting to heavy drinking, early marriages, substance abuse, and rural-urban migration. These acts are accompanied by negative attitudes toward livelihood activities, especially agriculture, despite it being the biggest source of livelihood for the majority of Ugandans.

Our Purpose

With successful disarmament in the region and the neutralization of the LRA insurgency, communities have been moving back to their former homesteads. However, vast fertile farmlands remain unutilized. While the agricultural sector employs an estimated 78% of the population, it remains largely traditional and concentrated in the hands of smallholder subsistence farmers.

Making the agricultural sector more attractive to energetic youth entails modernizing agriculture, raising productivity, boosting income, ensuring food security, eliminating burgeoning youth unemployment, neutralizing negative attitudes toward agriculture, and providing access to startup capital.

It is against this backdrop that ADYOFU was formed: to support its members and other young people to benefit from existing opportunities in the agricultural sector of Uganda and the world over.