Farmers learn how to use the electric cassava tuber cleaner and peeling machines at the cassava processing plant in Moru-Ita Parish, Nyero Sub-county, Kumi District on Monday. PHOTO/SIMON PETER EMWAMU
By Simon Peter Emwamu Fully Starch Making Machine
Farmers in Moru-Ita Parish, Nyero Sub-county, Kumi District have expressed joy over the construction of a cassava processing plant in the area.
The farmers under the Kumi Area Cooperative Enterprise (KACE) said the plant, which was constructed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency, will help them add value to their crops.
The Shs1b facility is equipped with solar driers, root tuber cleaners, electric peeler, cassava chippers and grinding machine.
In an interview with Daily Monitor on Monday, Mr Michael Onyu Okiror, a cassava farmer and member of KACE, said the construction of the plant followed a proposal by farmers under the Kumi Area Cooperative Enterprise (KACE) to the Korean government. “As a result, we now have a value addition plant with a solar drier that has a capacity to dry six tonnes of cassava chips each day and also grinding five tonnes of high quality cassava flour for baking and beer industries,” he said.
He said in 2019, they received clean and improved cassava stems through the International Development Institute (IDI) but were struggling to compete with other farmers in the market.
Mr Okiror added that the facility will eliminate the need for middlemen in their activities.
He encouraged other farmers to join the cooperative in order to benefit from the plant.
“Registration is a basic Shs20,000, and one must be willing to have at least four acres of cassava each year to feed the plant,” he said.
Ms Hellen Tino, a member of the cooperative, said the cooperative’s projection for 2024 is that each registered member will be able to realise between Shs3m to Shs4m per acre of cassava, which has not been the case before.
“This year, which is our pioneer year of production at the plant, each farmer has offered 300 kilogrammes of fresh cassava which has been processed to enable the plant to get capital to start buying cassava tubers from farmers for processing,” Ms Tino said.
Mr Justine Odeke, a farmer, said the initiative is in line with President Museveni’s campaign for farmers to add value to their products.
He added that the cooperative is now seeking certification from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) so that they can start supplying their products to the confectionary industries.
Mr Emmanuel Isaac Okiror, the field officer at the International Development Institute, said in the next six days, the plant will be handed over to the farmers to independently run it.
“The dream here is to have an empowered community of members who can meet their basic needs but above all pay fees for their children’s education,” Mr Okiror said.
Mr Okiror added that they are finalising a few issues with one of the beer bottling companies, especially on aspects of pricing, and when it is done, the members under this cooperative will be supplying cassava flour for beer making.
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