Housing Finance Bank Expands Digital Payments for Farmers in Karamoja

Housing Finance Bank is partnering with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) to expand access to digital payment services for livestock farmers in Karamoja under the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Pay programme.

The initiative is designed to make payments to farming communities more efficient and accessible, while extending financial services to farmers who may have limited access to traditional banking channels.

As part of the partnership, Housing Finance Bank is supporting the training of agricultural extension workers and selected prominent farmers on Foot and Mouth Disease and the requirements for onboarding farmers onto the FMD Pay programme.

The extension workers are also being trained on how to operate the FMD Pay system and assist farmers through the payment process, creating a local support network for communities participating in the programme.

This week alone, about 1,200 farmers across Karamoja are expected to benefit from the initiative, highlighting the scale of the programme and its potential to improve how agricultural payments reach farmers in the region.

For Housing Finance Bank, the partnership forms part of its broader financial inclusion strategy, particularly through the use of digital platforms to reach communities beyond conventional banking infrastructure.

The collaboration with MAAIF also positions digital financial services as an important component of efforts to improve efficiency within Uganda’s agricultural sector, particularly in livestock-producing communities.

By combining farmer training, extension support and digital payment systems, the FMD Pay programme is creating a mechanism through which farmers can access payments with greater convenience while strengthening the connection between agricultural programmes and formal financial services.