SUMMARY;
Cereal cottage industry spotlight will highlight the opportunities in the value chain, strategies it’s actors can employ to enhance the profitability, productivity and competitivenss of their enterprises as well as the mechanisms they can put in place to effectively overcome the threats to their investments’ growth.
We talk about quality within the entire cereal industry, that you have planted and how have you fed what you have planted to take care of it as it was growing and how did you take care of it at post-harvest handling, at storage, at transportation, and packaging it for the last person that is buying it.
By Musisi Lwanga (realmusisilwanga@gmail.com)
Gudie Leisure Farm is excited to announce the Cereals Cottage Industry Sprayer groundbreaking event set to expose industry players and potential investors to the developments in Cereals value chain and how can be fully exploited to maximize returns.
The mega anticipated day event will be held on monday, 5th February 2024 at it’s promise’s, Gudie Leisure Farm in Najjeera ll, Kira-Wakiso district.
While speaking with this [website ‘Trusted News Uganda’ https://trustednewsug.com] Prof. Gudula Naiga Basaza, the founder who’s doubles as the managing director Gudie Leisure Farm, said that the symposium on the cereal cottage industry is very important for any practicing farmers, running a white meat value chain and cereal is a major ingredient, 70% of the feed for our animals.
“We want to understand this market so well, right from who supplies the seed, who supplies the fertilizer, who is actually also producing the cereal and who has the technologies for value addition and actually who buys the final product. So this symposium is important given that Gudie leisure Farm is working with 70,000 youth that are involved in the cereal industry in particular maize”. Said Prof. Gudula.
Adding that, each one has an average of about one acre, but this makes a total of 70,000 acres and we want to understand this cereal. That’s why in this pastoral symposium we have invited government leader’s and private sectors that are involved in the buying and selling, so that they can guide us [Farmer’s] on how we can do it best to become good suppliers of quality cereal that can fetch money, that comes back into our youth as well.
However, this symposium is very timely to be able to respond questions just like we did last year, we engaged in a project with the National Agricultural Research Organization where we wanted to make sure that our youth have access to quality seeds and same to this time we will be having Dr. Frank Kagoda.
“We have been able to learn from it and we know that for any farmer to benefit from what they are farming, you need to have a quality seed and we learned there are different varieties of maize that have been made for different regions. So you don’t just simply go to the store and buy [Longe 10] and think it’s going to work for every region”. Said Prof. Gudula. Giving example, [Longe 10] is not convenient for highlands. It wouldn’t give you the productivity that you are expecting. So we have different varieties like maize, that are suitable for different areas, the same applies to millet as well. So in this symposium, we shall have an opportunity to know which varieties.
In this value chain especially the smallholder farmers, Gudie leisure Farm is a social enterprise that has a network of 211,412 youth working in 31 districts, including refugee camps. We have the capacity to produce cereal from 70 acres. So it’s an opportunity for us to know who can supply us the quality seed, who can actually buy what we have already produced and what quality, quantity do they require.
“The youth we are engaged with are committed, especially at the production level and we know that looking at the different industrial players, that is one area where they find a challenge, being able to aggregate the production and that is the part that Gudie leisure Farm is playing into this entire value chain”. Said Gudula.
She explains that, growing starts with right soil fertility, In the past farmers used to have a challenge with the soil and the warm, something that has been everywhere and has taken some farmers, especially maize, out of business. How is it being handled today, meanwhile the symposium will be looking at different diseases that are reducing the productivity of cereal and how are they being handled and which company has the solution.
How do you grow, cereal for what purpose and then how do you harvest it?
To manage it at post-harvest, different challenges like aflatoxins occured,This is something that has been talked about and has taken some of traders out of business but all during the symposium to be able to handle what brings about these aflatoxins in the cereals.
Why is cereals? ‘Prof. Gudula’ at Gudie leisure farm we are working with the white meat value chain and within the white meat value chain, there are so many other value chains embedded in it. We have an entire feed. We have the animal industry. We have the franchise that adds value to this particular meat that we have made. Then we have the services industry and we have the health industry that looks after the health of the plant, animal and environment.
“we zoom into the feed industry, we ask ourselves, what are the main feed ingredients for our animals and we found out most of the feeds that we have, 70% is cereal. So we decided to start with cereal because it makes 70% of our feed ingredient”. Said Gudula.
She emphasize cereals as the main sources of protein and oil at the same time. “We shall be able to look at pig area as a sector, agriculture, poultry and to bring together all the players in one room where they discuss how they work together and even probably how they come together to sell together. If you look at the African intercontinental trade, it’s so big that you cannot manage it alone”.
She adds, “Several opportunities for players in the cereals value chain have opened up, not just in Uganda but the entire East African region and continent of Africa! That includes the massive 1.27 billion people strong market that the private sector now has access through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area”.
However, it’s not a secret that there is still a lot more that needs to be done, including building the capacity of smallholder farmers on whom the entire private sectors and country’s fortunes greatly rely.
GUIDE LEISURE FARM
Gudie Leisure Farm Is a social enterprise providing various agri-business development services to youth owned micro and small enterprises [MSEs] in the agricultural sector and in particular, those operating in the white meat and related value chains.
Gudie leisure farm has built a farming network within Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso, Lwengo, Kyotera, Kiryandongo, Luweero, Dokolo, Moroto, Arua, Adjumani, Amolatar, Nwoya, Soroti, Jinja, Namisindwa, Tororo, Hoima, Mbarara, Isingiro, Kabale, Kisoro, Kikuube, Fort Portal, Kamwenge, Kassanda, Madi-Okollo, Rubanda, Rakai and operates in 6 refugee settlements – Kampala, Rwamwanja, Kiryandongo, Maaji, Nakivale, Rhino Camp – Madi-Okollo and Kyangwali, Kikuube and etc.
It established in 2009, the company, since it’s inception, has been providing the [MSME’s] with the technical and business training they need to produce and distribute high quality white meat products and services through it’s agribusiness incubation center, linking them to markets in and outside their districts of operation that can deliver them with the returns they expect from their investment and business development services [BDS] providers in the public and private sector that can support the growth and sustainability of their enterprises.
