Maize — when a good season is a teary thing

The maize glut has forced farm-gate prices down about 85 per cent. That is a collapse. Instead of the producer selling a kilogramme for a teary Shs150, the government has put up Shs100 billion to force a minimum sale price per kilogramme of Shs500.
As you would expect, many are roasting this haste though noble intervention. Some say the small peasant will not access that money, channelled through commercial banks as it is; instead it will benefit the middleman.
Some argue that the billions of shillings could have been better used to build government silos, while still others say that it should be the business of the private sector to build silos in response to a business opportunity. And why were cooperatives “killed” anyway? On and on.
This is the story of a country having many good things and being painfully slow to take advantage. Dependence on nature is still the way of our agriculture. Apart from maize growers, tears might not be far off for farmers of beans, sorghum and potatoes. In Uganda, a good season, instead of being a good thing, is a curse.
But that’s not ordered by the Almighty. We surely can add value to our maize beyond posho/porridge flour and animal feed.

Biofuel? Starch? Syrup? Value addition not only provides longer shelf life, but more jobs and taxes and probably a consistent decent price for the farmer. This assumes that market access has been sorted.
After eons of hand-wringing, good things are happening on the milk(y) front. Many products are being generated and are gaining footprint and market value in the region, and soon it will be beyond.
Maize could be next. And the next crop too. Well, let’s will ourselves to fix this agriculture thing. Plus the tourism thing. The army has been fixed enough (our military engineers now even assemble tough battle wagons, as the newspapers reminded us in front page images on Thursday). We better move on to other even more important things.
Speaking of moving on, DR Congo seems to be set to move on. The incompetence of president Joseph Kabila has exhausted the vast country, and the man himself. And so he will not be on the ballot when the Congolese vote for a president on December 23. It is goodbye after 17 years in the presidential palace. His chosen replacement is former interior minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.
Mr Shadary is said to be a hard man, having presided over the cracking of a few skulls of government critics, but anything is better. Besides, he may just deliver should he get the top job.
A peaceful DR Congo, one on the mend after so much hardship imposed by crooks and criminals at the top, will be a very good thing for the region. Ugandans, especially business types, may just now launch into crash French and Lingala language courses.
Over here, in Kampala, we continue to wait in these terms: If DR Congo can do it; Uganda can sure do it too.
Indeed, back in Kampala the main Opposition FDC party seems to be in a spiral, accelerated by changes in the leadership of its parliamentary team. The changes, ordered by new-ish party president Patrick Amuriat Oboi, seem to have rankled some members, not least those who were relieved of their positions. Some say the changes are simply a purge of those who supported Gen Mugisha Muntu, the then party president that Mr Oboi defeated late last year.
Purge or not, I don’t, from the outside, see anything untoward with the party president appointing new leaders. This is not the first time an FDC president is choosing a new team. Also, it is not like he named an NRM MP as the Opposition chief whip. Assuming he was motivated by malice, so what? He did everything within his powers, any (un-provable) dark motives notwithstanding.
Actually, instead I read a whiff of mischief on the other side: say, when Leader of Opposition Winnie Kiiza started on that story of not having been officially informed of her removal.
Well, I am not sure the game of chicken FDC leaders are playing is worthwhile for party and country.

Bernard Tabaire is a media trainer and commentator on public affairs based in Kampala.
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Twitter:@btabaire