When he lost a job, an opportunity to supply organic products was born

The Covid-19 pandemic was a crisis that gave birth to new beginnings for Sachin Hanwate.

He was restructured from Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL), where he worked as a salesman and executive assistant.

He went home sad and blue, unsure what he would be doing next to earn him a source of livelihood to support and sustain his family. He searched for jobs but all in vain.

Opts for farming

“There were no jobs, not even in India or elsewhere. With some friends, we partnered and invested their savings to start a trading commodity which would buy and sell to farmers. We have about 10,000 registered farmers in Lira, Kasese, Luwero, Mukono and Kampala,” says Sachin who is also the director of Agrosahas Int’l Pvt Limited, a company that supplies organic, natural, and wholefood products including animal feeds, oil seeds, fruits, vegetables, fruit concentrates, and honey.

He adds, “We are working with farmers to increase their productivity. We deal in sunflower and maize. When the farmers grow them, we buy from them. Our target is to work with my farmers: our target is 50,000.”

Value addition

The company is headquartered in Kawempe with offices in each of the districts of operation. They add value to maize and sunflower. They process the maize into flour, maize brand and also make soya bean cake. From the sunflower, they make sunflower cake and sunflower oil.

Sachin says given their limited capital base, they make five to six tones of the products per day but have it in their wish list to improve and grow their production capacity.

Market

They sell to companies such as Biyinzika Poultry International Limited, Jessa Dairy Farm, to mention but a few.

They also export to Kenya where agro based companies buy their maize too.

From the bi products of oil and with a mixture of chemicals, they manufacture liquid soap too.

“If we don’t add value, we lose a lot. For example, if we sell maize to Kenya, we lose close to 10 jobs in the processing sector. We are trying to increase more capacity so that we can retain the products here,” says Sachin.

He adds that at the moment, they buy maize from Kasese and transport it to Kampala for processing.

Organic maize fetches a good price so the company encourages farmers to grow it and are soon establishing a factory to manufacture organic fertilisers and pesticides which are different from what is currently available and sold on the market.

Expansion

They plan to make the fertilisers from chili. “The local chili is very hot and if you mix with our soap, together with local products available such as rabbits’ urine, cows’ urine and cow dung, it’s a very effective solution and fit for pesticides and soil will be maintained naturally but a lot of farmers do not know this,” the former salesman adds.

He reveals, “We now working to develop a digital farmers app. It’s getting launched soon. As we try to localize product processing, we want farmers to work sustainably, so that app will enable farmers to purchase inputs needed at affordable prices and reliable sources. It can be used by USSD, meaning that one doesn’t necessarily need to have a smart phone always but just dial.”

Smart farming

With smart agriculture using technology platforms, farmers are able to access any agronomist, agriculturalist for advice just by using their phone.

A farmer can get financing, insurance for their crops and market their crops too. A farmer may have more products than what they can supply to Agrosahas so they are free to utilize online interfaces to transact.

At the moment, the bulk buying company is faced with the challenge of capital and the increasing prices of inputs. Plus, there is a need to sensitize farmers to keep them in the know of trends in the agricultural sector and proper management of their agro business, for example attention to keeping records in order to know how much they invest and how much they can make and then draw a profit margin.

Sachin started the bulk buying and value addition business with a seed capital of Shs70m, and when I ask him if he regrets being terminated from the sugar company, he affords himself a smile.

He explains, “No, I do not regret, at all. I believe that that was the best thing that has ever happened to me because I was only used to working for someone, maybe I would never start any business in my life but when I was pushed out, I thought of starting a company in which I employ 55 people and benefit over 10,000 farmers.

Market

They sell to companies such as Biyinzika Poultry International Limited, Jessa Dairy Farm, to mention but a few. They also export to Kenya where agro based companies buy their maize too. From the bi products of oil and with a mixture of chemicals, they manufacture liquid soap too.