Storing grain in warehouses for better market is way to go
What you need to know:
- Grain farmers should benefit from storage facilities and better post-harvest handling and thus better prices, writes Lominda Afedraru
If grain farmers are to attract better market opportunities, there is need for adequate warehousing as grain markets in East Africa, including Uganda, suffer from a range of constraints.
Smallholder farmers are particularly affected owing to vulnerability to price fluctuations and weak bargaining. But effective marketing of these products requires efficient storage.
In light of this, several warehouses in various parts of the country are being developed to meet this demand.
Chris Kaijuka, the chairperson, Grain Council of Uganda, speaking at the East Africa Agribusiness Congress held in Kampala, 28-29 November, revealed there are 28 warehouse hubs across the country.
Eight of the ones that are operational each stores about 1,500 metric tonnes. The target is for every facility to have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes.
Those that are operational are based in Kiryadingo, Masindi, Gulu, Kasese, Lwengo, Mukono, Jinja and Kampala districts.
For a grain hub, there has to be cleaning equipment, driers and storage facility (warehouse or silos).
Out of the total grain quantity produced in the country, about 700 tonnes are stored in urban warehouses which are mainly in Kampala. The move is to ensure the hubs are in rural areas where farmers are based to enable them access the service easily.
They would improve post-harvest handling where farmers deposit produce in warehouses for quality processing.
It enables those in grain value chain to compete favourably in the domestic market as well as export market.
Deborah Kyarasiime, the executive director, Uganda Warehouse Systems Authority, notes that this can be done via farmers’ groups processing quality grain for better prices.
She points out that 80 per cent of the grain trade in East Africa is informal but this can change with the warehouse hubs where sale of grain will be done at negotiated prices.
There is also need for farmers to access technologies and methods that will enable them to attain good yields.
Although it is important to embrace warehousing for the grain industry, the challenges are many.
The market conditions are challenging; it is understandable why there are hardly commercial public warehouses.
The supply side is characterised by a large number of smallholder farmers as production of marketable surplus is dependent upon variable factors that farmers cannot perceive at planting time.
