By Joshua Kato
Last week, it was announced that maize is now the second leading exported agricultural product after coffee.
This is good news because, for a long time, maize has been considered a leading food security crop, but not one of the leading cash crops. Maize is mainly sold to Kenya, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The rise of maize to the money table only further emphasizes the big potential Uganda’s farming sector carries.
The country just needs to deal with a few quality and bio-hazard issues. Such issues include chemical residues in various foods due to abuse of farm chemicals and poor post-harvest handling that leads to issues, like aflatoxins.
Low quantities and poor market access certainly do not require rocket science to resolve so that the farmers earn more from their produce.
The issue of aflatoxins can be dealt with by proper harvest and drying methods. The export door to dairy exports will be widened when cattle owners vaccinate cattle twice a year and avoid using banned chemicals that contaminate meat and milk.
The good thing, as President Yoweri Museveni, a cattle keeper, pointed out that if government does not have the money to pay for the vaccines, we the farmers can do it. With quality assured, the big external market will be assured too.
