Over 12,000 farmers benefit from clean energy project

Boniface Ogwal, a resident of Corner Atapara Village in Akaka Parish, Aber Sub-county in Oyam District, has for the last 12 years earned his livelihood from agriculture through growing maize, sunflower seeds, rice and soya.

However, Ogwal and more than 1,200 farmers in the area have over the years struggled to add value to their agricultural products.

According to Ogwal, they dreamt of the government or a private company that would provide them with agri-processing machinery that would help in hulling their rice and processing their maize and soya to produce improved food products from which they would boost their incomes.

This eventually came about five years ago in the form of Awelo Millers, which set up a milling machine in Corner Atapara Village.

They set up machinery that performed several tasks, among them a press mill, rice hullers, maize mills and pelleting machines. For a moment, this excited the residents.

“We were motivated and started planting on a large scale, knowing we had where to add value to our products,” Ogwal says.

However, the excitement was short-lived as Awelo Millers could not operate effectively and on a large scale. The machinery was running on a diesel, which was expensive and could not run frequently.

“Besides, the grains milled by the machine could smell of diesel, so when you are eating posho and taking maize porridge, it often felt like you were taking diesel,” Ogwal explains.

This forced the management of Awello Millers to rack their brains and think of a quick solution. The solution came in the form of Shs64 million in funding from SNV, a Dutch development agency, with support from the European Union.

The company owners were also able to mobilise another about Shs64m, which would enable them to transition to clean and energy-efficient electricity.

The company was able to acquire hydro and solar-powered machinery. The company also acquired a solar dryer and the results were instant.

The milling services at the company improved and this, in turn, helped farmers such as Ogwal to produce more and sell to the company.

Kenneth Ayeny, the manager at Awelo Millers, said the transition to hydro and solar energy has reduced costs. He says they used to spend about Shs2.4m to run diesel machines for milling. Now the cost has been cut to half the cost.

Awelo millers now relies heavily on the 1200 small holder farmers registered and organised under the Awelo Outgrowers farmer scheme to supply sunflower and maize using the One Acre model approach.

Ayeny says they buy products from farmers at friendly prices before adding value.

Awelo millers hatch fish fingerlings and add value to sunflower seeds, maize, rice and soya. The company now produces cooking oil, flour and cereals, laundry soap and animal feeds.

“We further solar dry our seeds before processing as we monitor moisture content and ensure we control aflatoxins,” Ayeny shares.