Omiya showing some of his harvests from his Maksoy 6N.
Across the Acholi sub-region, quality seeds are changing the fortunes of farming families by helping them achieve better harvests, improve food security and build more resilient livelihoods.
Farmers who struggled with unreliable yields caused by poor-quality planting materials, pests, diseases, erratic rainfall and the effects of climate change are increasingly embracing improved seed varieties that produce healthier and stronger crops.
The transformation is being felt beyond the fields. Increased harvests are enabling families to earn more income, pay school fees, access healthcare and invest in expanding their farms.
For generations, agriculture has been the heartbeat of the Acholi Subregion, sustaining households with food, income and hope for a better future. Yet many smallholder farmers have remained trapped in a cycle of low productivity and uncertainty due to limited access to quality planting materials and other agricultural challenges.
Today, quality seed is emerging as a catalyst for change, helping farmers move from subsistence farming to more productive and market-oriented agriculture while strengthening their ability to withstand climate shocks and economic pressures.
Quality Seeds, Better Harvests
For Emmanuel Emmy Omiya, a farmer in Paicho Subcounty, Gulu District, choosing the right seed has become one of the most important decisions he makes on his farm.
Omiya grows soybeans, maize, beans, sunflower and vegetables, including eggplant and watermelon. He began growing soybeans using Maksoy 1N in 2016 but switched to Maksoy 6N in 2018, a variety he says has significantly improved his yields.
According to Omiya, Maksoy 6N is a preferred soybean variety because of its high yield potential.
His experience in 2025 demonstrates the scale of production he has achieved. During the first season, he planted Maksoy 6N on six acres and harvested 22 bags, each weighing 100 kilograms. In the second season, he planted four acres and harvested another 12 bags.
His maize production has also increased. In the first season of 2025, Omiya planted Tembo maize on four acres and harvested 28 bags, each weighing 100 kilograms. In the second season, he expanded his maize acreage to 12 acres and harvested 80 bags.
This year, Omiya says he is still harvesting his first-season soybean crop but has already collected 30 bags of Maksoy 6N.
For him, the experience has changed the way he views farming. He believes farmers need to treat agriculture as a business by planning, seeking advice, investing in quality inputs and choosing seed varieties suited to their farming conditions.
“A serious farmer should plan, consult, invest and plant quality seeds so that they harvest good and high yields. When they sell, they can earn good money.”
Omiya encourages farmers to invest in quality seed rather than relying on recycled seed, which he says can lead to declining yields over time.
He acknowledges that farming comes with risks and that poor seasons can sometimes prevent farmers from achieving their targets. However, he believes farmers should learn from setbacks rather than lose interest in agriculture.
He recalls that he once relied heavily on weather patterns from previous years to determine when to plant. This sometimes resulted in late planting because he did not recognize how quickly weather patterns were changing.
By 2019, however, Omiya says he had begun noticing significant changes in weather patterns and realized he needed to adjust his farming practices, including his planting times.
For vegetable farmers, access to quality seedlings is equally important.
Solome Abalo, a vegetable farmer and nursery bed operator, says she started raising vegetable seedlings after noticing that many farmers struggled to produce healthy and quality seedlings on their own.
Her nursery bed produces seedlings for crops such as cabbage and eggplant, tula among others.
“I stepped in to bridge the gap and help farmers access quality seedlings,” Abalo says.
She believes that producing healthy seedlings gives vegetable farmers a stronger foundation for better crop establishment and, ultimately, improved yields.
Certified seeds
Demands for improved seeds has been steadily growing across Northern Uganda over the last decade says, Alex Ssekandi, a co-director at EpiFlex Solutions Limited, an agro-input and agricultural services company. Many market-oriented farmers began recognizing the benefits of certified seeds in unlocking their farm potentials as weather patterns shifted from their known seasons, although adoption remains lower than expected among smallholder farmers in some communities across the region, he explains.
“We don’t just sell inputs,” Ssekandi says. “We work with farmers in their gardens to understand their challenges and guide them on how to get the best results. Quality seed alone is not enough; farmers need the right knowledge and management practices to realize their full potential.”
According to Ssekandi, cost, accessibility and misconceptions continue to discourage many smallholder farmers from embracing hybrid seeds.
“Farmers know hybrid seed is good, but many consider it expensive, while others are discouraged because they cannot save the harvested seed and expect the same performance in the next season,” he explains.
He says farmers can replant the hybrid seed, but it will generally not maintain the same performance because desirable traits may not be retained at the same level in subsequent generations.
That is why commercial farmers often purchase fresh certified seed each season, he says, because they have seen the difference in productivity and profitability.
Ssekandi also notes that climate change is influencing farmers’ decisions, particularly in Northern Uganda, where prolonged dry spells have become more frequent over the last three decades.
“Many of the hybrids we sell to farmers have been bred for drought tolerance and disease resistance,” he says. “Farmers who have tried them are seeing better yields and stronger resilience even when rainfall is unreliable. Those using conventional seed often suffer heavier losses during drought, while those using improved varieties still harvest something.”
Climate Change
As climate change takes a toll globally, there is unoredecent rise tempreture and disruption of the environment driven by the net accumulation of harmful greenhouse gases in the atmosphere compared to the pre-industrial age of the 1800s.
The United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an agency of the United Nations working to limit climate change, defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere, and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”
The Convention says on its website that “adverse effects of climate change” means changes in the physical environment or biota resulting from climate change which have significant deleterious effects on the composition, resilience or productivity of natural and managed ecosystems or on the operation of socio-economic systems or on human health and welfare.
The adverse effects manifest in different ways, including distortion in rainfall patterns, increase in average temperature of a place, an increase in sea surface temperatures, changes in wind system movements, melting of ice-capped mountain glaciers.
Cumulatively, the change has resulted in increased incidences of flooding in some parts of the globe, heatwaves, wildfires, pests and diseases, intense droughts or erratic rainfall, which have disrupted the normal agrifood systems of the world and livelihoods.
Climate scientists say developing nations like Uganda face greater risks even when they contribute the least in terms of polluting the atmosphere due to lack of capacity to adapt.
All parties to the convention are expected to contribute towards limiting further increase in warming through various nationally determined contributions to mitigation and limiting emissions and global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees by the year 2050 to prevent catastrophic existential threats when Climate Change is projected to make Planet Earth uninhabitable.
Game-Changer Maize Varieties
James Ogwal, an agronomist from Seed Co., says farmers are increasingly shifting to hybrid maize varieties, namely Tembo and DK777, because of their resilience to changing weather conditions as they possess the desired ability to withstand drought and quickly adapt to varying rainfall patterns.
The variety is also known for its tolerance to diseases such as Maize Streak Virus, high yield potential and contribution to food security.
Tembo was approved for production in Uganda’s medium-to-high-altitude areas and has increasingly become popular among commercial farmers, particularly in Northern Uganda and the Acholi Subregion.
“Farmers are attracted to the variety because of its high yields and good grain bulk density,” Ogwal says.
He says Seed Co. works with farmers by establishing demonstration plots where they can learn how to properly use and manage improved seed varieties.
The demonstrations allow farmers to see the performance of different varieties under local conditions and understand the agronomic practices needed to achieve better yields.
“Maize is a food-security crop. That is why we focus on producing high-quality seed,” Ogwal says.
Changing weather, declining yields
Ogwal says farmers are increasingly facing declining yields from some local varieties, partly because of changing weather patterns.
The changing climate, he says, has made it increasingly difficult for farmers to rely solely on traditional farming practices and varieties that may no longer perform well under current conditions.
“Farmers need to select varieties suited to their planting season and local conditions, maintain proper farm management, control weeds, use recommended spacing to achieve the appropriate plant population and apply fertilizers where soil nutrients are deficient,” he recommends.
According to him, combining quality seeds with proper spacing, timely planting, good farm management, appropriate fertilizer uses and access to extension services can significantly improve productivity and strengthen farmers’ resilience to changing weather conditions.
Seeds—the foundation of agricultural productivity
Prof. Phinehas Tukamuhabwa, a plant breeder at Makerere University and lead developer of the MAKSOY soybean varieties, describes quality seed as the cornerstone of agricultural productivity and one of the most powerful tools for transforming farmers’ livelihoods.
Drawing from more than three decades of research in soybean breeding, seed systems and farmer outreach, Prof. Tukamuhabwa says every successful harvest begins with the seed farmers put in the ground.
“Seed is the mother of everything. If you plant diseased seeds, you get diseased plants. If you plant seed that is not true to type or has poor germination, you cannot expect good yields. You must start with the right seed to get the right harvest,” he says.
According to Prof. Tukamuhabwa, quality seed should be genetically pure, free from disease, true to its variety and capable of achieving high germination rates. These characteristics give farmers a better opportunity to maximize yields and the return on their investment.
His team’s work has focused on developing soybean varieties that address the challenges faced by Ugandan farmers.
The MAKSOY varieties, including MAKSOY 6N and MAKSOY 7N, were bred to withstand soybean rust, one of the crop’s most devastating diseases in tropical regions. They are also designed to offer high yields, stronger stems that resist lodging, drought resilience, and high protein and oil content demanded by processors.
“Our varieties are adapted to Uganda’s environment and are highly competitive,” Prof. Tukamuhabwa says. “If they are well managed, farmers can harvest up to three tons per hectare. But quality seed alone is not enough. Farmers must combine it with good agronomic practices, including timely planting, the right plant population, proper weed management and good crop husbandry to realize full potential.”
Miraculous Soybeans
Beyond improving harvests, Prof. Tukamuhabwa believes soybean has the potential to drive Uganda’s agro-industrialization dream and strengthen national food security.
He describes soybean as a “miracle crop” because it provides nutritious food for people, quality feed for livestock, improves soil fertility through nitrogen fixation and supplies raw materials for industries producing edible oil, flour and animal feed.
“There is no crop more suited to agro-industrialization,” he says. “From the farmer growing one acre to processors, livestock producers and exporters, everyone along the value chain benefits.”
According to Prof. Tukamuhabwa, Uganda has developed soybean varieties adapted to local conditions through its own research, but farmers need reliable access to the improved varieties if they are to benefit from higher yields, better incomes and improved livelihoods.
In Uganda, soybean is used for human food, cooking oil, livestock feed and as a source of income. The crop also contributes to soil fertility through its ability to fix nitrogen, an essential nutrient for healthy plants in the soil.
Agribusiness Investment
Prof. Tukamuhabwa urges farmers to buy certified seed only from reputable seed companies and licensed dealers. He warns that counterfeit and poor-quality seed can undermine productivity before crops even emerge.
He also dismisses the common misconception that all improved varieties are genetically modified, explaining that Uganda’s commercially available soybean varieties are products of conventional plant breeding.
While some farmers view quality seed as expensive, he argues that it should instead be seen as an investment.
“Quality seed gives you what you expect,” he says. “When farmers invest in genuine seed, they are investing in better harvests, stronger livelihoods and a more secure future.” He explained.
For farmers such as Omiya, the difference is already visible in the field, store and in their bank accounts, so is the resilience of livelihoods to climate change.
As average weather conditions, which favour the growth of conventional seeds continue to challenge traditional farming systems, and farmers face pressure to produce more from limited land, the choice of seed is becoming increasingly important.
It is true that quality seed cannot eliminate every risk faced by farmers. But when combined with timely planting, good agronomic practices, extension support and access to markets, it can provide a stronger foundation for better harvests, improved incomes and more resilient farming communities across the Acholi sub region and Uganda at large.
