Kayunga pineapple farmers get solar-powered drying plant
Officials tour the pineapple drying plant in Kayunga District. Photo | Fred Muzaale
What you need to know:
- The facility at Kamila village in Kangulumira sub-county is the first of its kind in Uganda. It will revolutionize food drying practices, enhance food security, improve livelihoods, and increase energy access for smallholder farmers
Pineapple farmers in Kayunga District who have been registering losses due to poor preservation mechanisms, can now smile after getting a multi-million solar-powered pineapple drying plant.
The facility at Kamila village in Kangulumira sub-county is the first of its kind in Uganda. It will revolutionize food drying practices, enhance food security, improve livelihoods, and increase energy access for smallholder farmers.
The plant, which was constructed by Neyer Brainworks GmbH, Kangulumira Vanilla and Horticultural Cooperative Ltd, TWIGA Sun Fruits GmbH, and the All in Trade Foundation, was commissioned on Friday.
According to Ms Kerstin Wolf, the co-founder Twiga Sub fruits Ltd, the plant would be fed with fresh pineapple fruits from certified organic pineapple farmers under their association Kangulumira Vanilla and Horticultural Cooperative Ltd.
“Our gold in Kangulumira is pineapple. Our product is certified on the international market in the European Union (EU) and America, so we have to ensure quality of our product right from the garden to the plant and to the market,” she said.
Ms Kerstin revealed that instead of the four days period which pineapples have been taking to dry when using ordinary solar driers, they will now take only 10 hours and about 500kgs will be dried per day.
Kangulumira is referred to as “Uganda’s pineapple hub” and Mr Mohammed Lubowa the managing director, All in Trade Limited and All in Trade Foundation said currently, 300 organic certified farmers will immediately benefit from the facility. An additional 1,500 farmers are projected to benefit indirectly within the next two years.
Mr Mohammed Luutu, a pineapple farmer and a local leader in Kangulumira sub-county said occasionally, they have been selling their fresh fruit at a loss because of the costly inputs such as manure and pesticides.
He said during off season, they sell a big pineapple at Shs15,000 while during harvesting time the price for a fresh pineapple goes as low as Shs500.
