Ugandan beauty queens swap make-up for muck-out with new farming focus

A former mushroom and poultry farmer has been crowned Miss Uganda following a major rebranding of the annual beauty pageant, now designed to promote agriculture in the east African nation. Leah Kalanguka, 23, beat off 19 other finalists after a competition that saw the glamour of the catwalk ditched for an army-sponsored boot camp on a farm, where contestants had to milk cows and work with goats and sheep.

The youth will love agriculture because it goes hand in hand with beauty. Right now, farming is mostly done by elderly women.

Leah Kalanguka, Miss Uganda

After years of following the more traditional beauty pageant formula, organisers applied the theme of ‘promoting agriculture entrepreneurship among the youth’ to the event and partnered with the Ugandan army — which has major business interests in agriculture. At the awards ceremony, finalists were quizzed about farming on stage. Organisers said the top finalists will eventually be used to market produce including potato flour, mango juice, cornflakes and honey.

Africa