KAMPALA: A former mushroom and poultry farmer has been crowned Miss Uganda following a major rebranding of the annual beauty pageant, which saw the glamor of the catwalk ditched for an army-sponsored boot camp on a farm.

Leah Kalanguka, 23, beat off 19 other finalists after a competition that is now designed to promote agriculture in the east African nation.

Besides having to field questions on farming on stage, contestants also 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,” Kalanguka, wearing a gold dress, tiara and a sash, told AFP during late Saturday’s awards ceremony.

After years of following the more traditional beauty pageant formula, organizers 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 the farm sector.