Webinar Discussing Uganda’s Progress on Financing and Coordination of the Productive Use of Solar Energy (PUSE) in the Agricultural Value Chain

Posted on: 2026-03-17 08:41:33

ACODE in partnership with Heifer International in Uganda have organised a webinar to share information about coordination and financing of PUSE in the agricultural value chains. The Webinar will feature a key presentation on integrating PUSE in planning and budgeting processes and enhancing coordination and a plenary discussion for participants to make contributions and raise questions.

Heifer International Uganda and the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) are implementing a project titled: Strengthening the productive use of solar energy services in agricultural value chains in Uganda-Phase II. The project is implemented under the Distributed Renewable Energy Ecosystem Model (DREEM) Hub funded by the Mott Foundation. The overall goal of the DREEM Hub project is to strengthen the Productive Use of Solar Energy (PUSE) ecosystem to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by stimulating access to solar energy services in the agricultural value chain. This is intended to result into the realization of sustainable incomes and strengthen resilience of smallholder farmers and other value chain actors to climate change impacts and shocks.

While policy implementation on productive use of solar energy for agricultural value chains has demonstrated notable performance over the years, Uganda still faces numerous challenges in implementing energy policy and solar technology. The agricultural sector which is considered the backbone of Uganda’s economy is facing constraints that have, on a large extent, slowed the mechanization and scaling the productive use of solar energy. These challenges range from limited awareness and knowledge disparities, to limited technical and institutional capacity; lack of coordination among stakeholders; lack of incentives; limited emphasis on research and development, innovation and knowledge sharing; lack of affordable financing; and infrastructure bottleneck. Consequently, multi-stakeholder participation and access to affordable solar financing in agricultural value chains are affected by limited access to finance, inadequate stakeholder coordination, lack of quality standards, technological mismatch, and capacity gaps. According to the baseline report, sector players in PUSE are not well coordinated: there is poor coordination among ministries, development partners, and private sector players, as well as lack of commitment of implementing agencies, and limited funding in the sector to facilitate multi-stakeholder forums or platform to work effectively.

Even with the existing financing windows, affordability remains a big challenge to both implementation of policy for PUSE and PUSE uptake. Financial constraints and inadequate coordination pose significant challenges to PUSE adoption in Uganda. The solar technology high upfront costs and the absence of accessible financing options are major barriers to solar adoption especially for smallholder farmers.