Nwoya farmers shun ACDP stores

NWOYA– Four multi-million farmers’ storage facilities in Purongo, Anaka, Alero, and Kochgoma sub-counties in Nwoya district are underutilised as farmers keep their produce in homes, theCooperator has learnt.

The storage facilities were constricted in 2020 under Agriculture Cluster Development Project [ACDP], a partnership of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the World Bank financed by the International Development Assistance [IDA] of the World Bank.

According to Nwoya district commercial officer, Kenneth Kitara, farmers prefer using their houses, verandahs, and kitchens to store their farm produce such as millet, millet, sorghum, and groundnuts.

“Imagine the storage facilities that have the capacity of storing 200 metric tons have only seven tons of produce being stored there right now,’’ Kitara said.

He said several engagements with both cooperatives and farmers’ groups in the area have not yielded any results.

“However, we have not lost hope. We are still asking the farmers to make use of the storage facilities since they are suitable for storing the produce for a longer time as opposed to verandahs and kitchens,” he said.

The storage facilities were also aimed at bulking which attracts a better market for the produce as opposed to individual farmers selling their produce, he said.

According to Juma Laguti who grows rice, Nwoya district has many peasant farmers who prefer selling off their produce individually while remaining with little for home consumption.

“Given that we have to incur transport expenses to the government stores, most of us [farmers] prefer selling off our produce to middlemen who come to our homesteads,’’ he said.

Laguti adds that when the produce is kept in the general stores, it becomes hard for the individual farmer to sell their share in case there is an urgent need for money.

The stores built under ACDP were geared toward increased productivity, production, and marketing of produce to boost household incomes of the farming communities.

ACDP’s objective is to raise on-farm productivity, production, and marketable volumes of selected agricultural commodities like; maize, beans, rice, cassava, and coffee, in specified 12 geographic clusters spanning over 57 districts in Uganda.

https://thecooperator.news/nwoya-farmer-groups-in-need-of-stores-for-produce/

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