GULU-A 60-metric ton storage facility constructed at Shs 386 million for Paicho Central Kal Cooperative Society in Gulu district has motivated farmers there to increase the production of maize.
The cooperative is now aiming to see that each member produces a minimum of 10 bags of maize per season.
The cooperative has 81 registered members but is also open to other local farmers interested in utilizing the new storage facility.
Ogik Patrick Tabu, a member of the cooperative said that, “We want to be recognised for maize production in the whole of Gulu district. We want to make it our main crop.”
Ogik said due to a lack of a storage facility in the past, farmers were unable to grow maize on a large scale.
“We used to rent a lock-up at Shs 60,000 per month and it would affect our profits a lot,” he said.
Charles Obwoya, the chairperson of Paicho Central Kal Cooperative Society said that they are lucky that the soils there are very fertile and support maize production.
“We intend to use the fertile soils to our advantage and grow maize on a large scale so that big buyers come and buy from us. We are easily accessible since we are near the Gulu-Kitgum Highway,” Obwoya said.
The produce store which has a maize crib for drying maize, a maize sheller, a moisture meter for measuring moisture content, and a maize milling machine among others was funded by government through the Agriculture Cluster Development Project [ACDP].
ACDP is a partnership project of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries [MAAIF] and the World Bank, financed by the International Development Association [IDA] of the World Bank.
Acaye Alphonse, the focal point person for the project told theCooperator that government contributed 67 percent of the funds to set up the store while the farmers contributed the remaining 33 percent by way of offering land, bricks, labour, hardcore, and sand among others.
The cooperative was established in 1964 but collapsed during the over two decades Lord’s Resistance Army [LRA] war before it was revived in 2007.
https://thecooperator.news/bukwo-maize-farmers-aim-at-value-addition/
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