KAMPALA: Thirteen thousand maize farmers under the association, Masindi District Farmers Association (MADFA), are set to resume exporting maize flour to South Sudan and Kenya after sorting out quality issues.
This was revealed by MADFA programmes officer Nezaphor Aliganyira last week in Masindi while meeting farmers who had come from Nakasongola, Nakaseke and Luweero districts to learn about increasing maize productivity and maintaining quality standards. The team was led by Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) programmes officer Lina Asiimwe.
“Every time we would take our flour to Kenya [on behalf of members]; it would be rejected because of its poor quality. We had to stop and work on standards first,” Mr Aliganyira told farmers.
Mr Aliganyira said after rejections of flour, the association made a deliberate move to help its members by availing them with high yielding seeds, educating them on proper post-harvest handling methods and cheap loans. Madfa also operates savings and credit co-operative with a loan portfolio of Shs1.5b.
It has also a warehouse where sorted maize is kept before being milled. Mr Aliganyira said they will export 1600 metric tonnes of maize flour to both markets of South Sudan and Kenya this season when prices stabilise. Maize prices now range between Shs300 and Shs600 a kilo.
Ms Asiimwe said farmers lose close to 30 per cent of their produce due to poor post harvest handling methods and addressing it is important in increasing food and incomes of farmers. With increasing demand for maize flour in institutions such as schools, police, army and restaurants across the region, Ugandan farmers stand to reap big from trade.
Early this year, SEATINI signed an 18-month partnership, with Uganda National Bureau of Standards to check grain standards through sensitisation drives and training of farmers.
