How to earn big from potatoes

It is early morning as I arrive at Colline Hotel in Mukono to attend a stakeholders meeting about a project in fast tracking access to improved varieties of root crops by small holder farmers, the case of sweet potato. As I approach a group of women who are settled at the corner of the conference room busy baking chapatti and cooking porridge as they display a number of products they have added value to using sweet potato flour, I take kin interest and approach them for an interview.

How they started
Jowellia Namubiru quickly comes to attend to me as she takes me through the success story of her women group prospering from sale of value added sweet potato products.
“We are a women group called Bajamasaga Sweet Potato Growers and Processors based in Luweero. The entire group comprises 100 members with majority engaged in farming but we are 10 women involved in value addition. We started this initiative in 2016 after acquiring training skills by scientist from Naro and Makerere University. The experts told us to embrace use of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes because it is good in restoring vision and it nourishes our health,” says Namubiru.

The process
The team picked on processing sweet potato flour out of which they bake, chapatti, bread, cakes of all types, doughnuts, sweet potato cookies, juice and biscuits among others.
• One kilogramme of sweet potato flour has to be mixed with two kilogrammes of wheat flour to make it elastic.
• Other ingredients such as yeast, sugar, salt, baking powder, blue band, egg yolk and oil have to be added in the most approximate quantity to make the mixture good and ready for baking.
• The mixture is done using warm water to make the dough smooth.
• For products such as chapatti, one can add onions to achieve good flavor and crisps you simply slice raw sweet potato tubers into pieces and dip fry. The women make each product daily to earn Shs100,000 per product.

Prices
Their target customers are patients in major clinics and hospitals. Cakes made for parties cost Shs100,000 of 1 kilogramme each, if the group gets an order of three ladder cake, it is charged Shs300,000.
A loaf of bread costs Shs4,000 and the doughnuts are sold at Shs500 each, crisps are sold between Shs500 and Shs2,000 depending on the size.

Savings
It is their major source of income and they have a savings scheme where each lady saves Shs20,000 per week. The interest obtained is shared at the end of the year and each woman can go away with Shs10 million.
Namubiru is glad to have joined this initiative because as a widow with 10 children she has been able to take them to school, three have completed University education.

Other products
Stella Nangedo, a teacher from Namataba Primary school explains that sweet potato flour mixed with millet and soybean flour is good for making porridge. Teachers in schools are teaching the children how to process the flour and this knowledge is transmitted to the parents who must ensure they prepare sweet potato porridge for their children.

Sweet potato sauce
Sweet potato relish made from the leaves as source is also good. Teachers have imparted this knowledge in communities where their pupils live.
It is made out of tender leaves of the plant; ensure it is clean by washing, cut into pieces.
You can either fry it using oil, onions and tomatoes or you can boil it by adding onions and green pepper and serve it with Matooke, maize meal (posho) or rice.

Juice
Sweet potato juice is another product made out of peeled roots which is boiled. Make sure the ratio with water is adequate.
For instance eight peeled roots would require five litres of water, add fruit flavour into the same and some tamarind to improve the taste. You can blend it with mashed boiled sweet potato, add citric acid and lemon juice and after thoroughly boiling leave it to cool ready for packaging.
These products are meant for the communities to consume direct Vitamin A from the orange fleshed sweet potato especially children and pregnant mothers.
This will relieve them from purchasing Vitamin A drugs.
The teachers from 56 schools in the districts of Mukono, Kamuli and Wakiso participated as roll modals but this can be adopted by teachers across the country.

Crisps
• Place potato slices into a large bowl of cold water as you slice them as thinly as possible.
• Once they are cleaned, soak them in salty water for at least 30 minutes, then drain them and rinse.
• Thereafter, marinate (soak) them in a mixture of white vinegar to prevent the slices from disintegrating.
• Heat oil in a deep fryer to 185 degrees Celsius, then dip the potato slices to fry. Once they start turning golden, remove and drain on paper towels.
• Continue until all of the slices are fried. Season with additional salt if desired.