Farmers’ group boosted with equipment and seeds
GULU-Opar pi wan Farmers Group which engages in horticulture in Loyo-boo village, Unyama Sub-county, Gulu district has received farming equipment and seeds worth Shs 7.4 million.
The group which also grows and processes pumpkins into flour, received a solar water pump, 20 rolls of barbed wire, two rechargeable sprayers, and an improved variety of seeds for eggplants, tomatoes, and cabbage from USAID-I CAN [Integrated Community Agriculture and Nutrition Activity].
USAID-ICAN is a five-year project that kicked off in 2018 and is aimed at enhancing the resilience of vulnerable households in the eight districts of Kanungu, Kisoro, Rukungiri in Kigezi sub-region, Gulu, Lamwo, Nwoya in Acholi sub-region, and Kaabong and Kotido in Karamoja sub-region.
Ocaya Latigo, the Chairperson of Opar pi wan said the support from USAID ICAN will increase their productivity.
“We used to plant our vegetables only during rainy seasons but with the solar water pump, we will be able to produce all year round,” he said.
The group will also use the barbed wires to secure its pumpkin gardens from being destroyed by roaming domestic animals.
However, the group that currently slices their pumpkins manually and depends on sunlight for drying, needs machines to simplify their work.
“We are currently unable to process any pumpkin flour because drying pumpkin chips is hard with the prevailing weather. We are looking for help to acquire a solar drier,” Ocaya said.
Opar pi wan Farmers Group is mainly composed of elderly women and a few men who started adding value to pumpkins during the lockdown in 2021 when markets were shut down.
The shutdown saw many farmers lack market for their produce and forced some farmers like Opar pi wan to invent ways to add value to their farm produce.
Ocaya said that they came up with the idea to add value to the pumpkins to do away with middlemen.
“Middlemen were buying raw pumpkins from us at a maximum of Shs 3,000 for a big fruit and resell expensively at markets in the city but we now earn Shs 8,000 per kilogramme of pumpkin flour,” Latigo said.
Innocent Grace Aloyo, the district coordinator at USAID-ICAN says the group was one of many that sent in applications for grant support in 2020.
She however said that their need for a solar drier and chipping machine may not be considered since the project is coming to an end in 2023.
“Opar pi wan applied for the grant in 2020 just before the Covid-19 lockdown and it was during the lockdown that they developed the idea to start adding value to the pumpkins,” Aloyo said.
https://thecooperator.news/masindi-cooperative-installs-shs-380mln-weighbridge-for-farmers/
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