Private sector hoarding food - Minister
Agriculture Minister Vincent Ssempijja unveiling the MAGNA15 Series of tractors in Uganda on Tuesday at Serena hotel after opening the first ever agri-business congress. Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) is one of the leading brands in the country and the world’s third largest tractor manufacturer and it represents a new range of tractors has been customized and intelligently. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
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Chris Kaijuka the chairman of The Grain Council of Uganda said much as there is famine in the country because of climate change, the council members have a lot of food stored in their silos urging government to create mechanisms of moving food from areas of surplus to those of scarcity
The ministry of Agriculture has attributed the current food shortages in the country to absence of a national food reserve system to coordinate food distribution and storage in the country.
While opening the East Africa agri-business congress yesterday at the Serena Hotel, Agriculture minister Vincent Ssempijja revealed that there is a lot of food in the country but majority of it is held by the private sector who export it because there is lack of coordination in the food sector in the country.
“We have a lot of food held by the private sector but tend to lose all the food because it is exported. We intend to work with the private sector to have buffer stock and we shall use their silos to store the food,” he said.
Chris Kaijuka the chairman of The Grain Council of Uganda said much as there is famine in the country because of climate change, the council members have a lot of food stored in their silos urging government to create mechanisms of moving food from areas of surplus to those of scarcity.
“Government needs to partner with us. As I talk, Grain Council members in their silos have beans and maize which can be turned into flour within a minute. We have sorghum we have food reserves,” he said, adding that there is need for coordination because as traders, they have accurate information about how food is produced in the country and they can share it with government.
“Government does not run a food reserve programme and the population no longer practices the traditional food security systems meaning we need to revisit and see whether we can have food reserves,” he said.
According to Mr Med Mwiri, the marketing and public relations manager Engineering Solutions Uganda Ltd, this year they decided to host the congress in Uganda because of the country’s important role in the food sector in the region which unfortunately is uncoordinated.
“We do not have a coordinated mechanism of discussing issues affecting the agricultural sector in Uganda so we decided to host this kind of meeting here so that all actors in the agricultural sector can come together and discuss issues affecting the sector,” Mr Mwiri said.
