How Annet is turning agro-processing skills into opportunity at Rwentanga Farm Institute

Students now learn the full value chain, sorting tomatoes, blending, processing, branding, packaging, and marketing. What once ended at production now extends to enterprise creation.

“Before, students stopped at production,” she explains. “Now they leave knowing how to sell, how to brand, and how to earn.”

The results are visible in students’ lives. One former learner now runs a restaurant, producing all her own tomato sauce. Another operates a similar business in a different district. Others have ventured into marketing, branding, and distribution skills they acquired directly from the Agro-processing laboratory.

Learning has also moved beyond campus. Students regularly engage with community groups, farmers, women, and youth associations, transferring skills and supporting local enterprise development. The Institute has established a sustainable model, where income from product sales and specialized training fees is reinvested into equipment maintenance and operations.

“This laboratory is always open,” Ms. Annet notes. “Students are constantly practicing, innovating, and developing market ideas.”

Institutional impact has followed. Rwentanga Farm Institute has grown into one of the largest vocational institutions in Uganda, enrolling over 800 students across multiple programmes. It now attracts more than 900 visitors every month farmers, entrepreneurs, development partners, and trainees seeking benchmark Agro-processing practices.

This evolution reflects BEAR II’s third objective: improving the perception of TVET by demonstrating that vocational institutions can be credible pathways to employment, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

For Ms. Annet, however, the most powerful change is human. “Students now see a future,” she reflects. “They see how skills can generate income, support families, and restore dignity.”

The work at Rwentanga contributes directly to national priorities on youth employment, food security, and agro-industrialisation, while advancing the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).

Through BEAR II, UNESCO and the Government of the Republic of Korea have demonstrated that strategic investment in trainers, systems, and equipment delivers sustainable results. At Rwentanga, that investment empowered one trainer to catalyse institutional transformation and community impact.

“This project didn’t just change how I teach,” Ms. Annet says. “It changed how students see themselves, and their role in Uganda’s development.”

Today, Rwentanga Farm Institute stands as a national reference point for Agro-processing skills development, and Ms. Annet Kyasiima stands as a testament to what is possible when trainers are empowered to lead change, turning vocational education into a true driver of livelihoods, innovation, and inclusive growth.