By Prossy Nandudu
Promoters of grain processing facilities have called for partnerships with government to increase awareness on post-harvest management.
The call was made William Owora, from Riela, importers of post-harvest and value addition technologies, during the Harvest Money Expo.
According to Owora, much as there are many interventions in the post-harvest management sub-sector, farmers still don’t know about the existing facilities. His call stems from reports from other sector players, that Ugandan has more than enough post-harvest handling facilities, but only 30% is being utilized.
Through partnerships, Owora said there will be an increase in information sharing on post-harvest management which is lacking today.
“Part of the challenge is that there is less information about post-harvest knowledge and this requires us to work with government to train people on the post-harvest technologies, and show them where they are situated,” said Owora.
At the expo, different post-harvest management facilities were displayed include smaller silos that can keep 5 metric tons of grain. Another was the mobile maize dryer, with a holding capacity of 5 tons. When upgraded with an additional, farmers will be in position to dry for others to earn an extra income for maintenance, Owora added.
However, for quality grains, experts in agribusiness advised farmers to dry their grains to the acceptable moisture content before storage to avoid the buildup of molds, protect the harvested produce from pests but also make use of traditional cribs by keeping in the harvest before shelling especially maize.
