By George Bita
As the harvest season for mangoes reaches its peak in Busoga, farmers from the sub-region are apparently overwhelmed with this produce.
A sizable number have resorted to selling the fruits at giveaway prices at makeshift stalls in nearby trading centres.
When New Vision visited select roadside markets in Namutumba, Idudi, Magamaga, Namulesa and Namungalwe urban localities, a medium-sized basket full of ripe mangoes was costing sh2, 000.
Small boys stood at strategic locations to entice road users to buy with some motorists bargaining to take the mangoes at a lower cost.
John Izimba, a farmer at Nawandala village, Iganga district expressed concern over a general lack of market for fruits which consequently leads to losses.
“I invested over sh1m in setting up an orchard with mangoes and oranges. However, the market is limited and middlemen take our fruits at very miserable prices,” Izimba lamented.
He disclosed that a 100kg bag of mangoes is being bought for as low as sh30, 000 by dealers.
Sarah Nakato, a fruit farmer at Namwiwa parish in Kaliro district said since the fruits ripen at almost the same time, they must be sold off immediately to avoid having a rotten harvest instead.
“Some of us nowadays have roadside outlets to sell off mangoes to travellers. At least one can earn something by selling each mango at sh200 or a heap of 10 at sh2, 000,” Nakato explained.
Fred Kyera, a farmer at Nawandala trading centre, observed that some mango growers have abandoned the fruits in the fields for school-going children to eat as they walk home.
“At other farms, they are simply rotting away due to a bountiful harvest that has no ready market. The fruit flies are in plenty feasting on such decomposing fruits,” Kyera said.
Moses Batwala, the Jinja district chairman encouraged fruit farmers to come together as a cooperative and acquire machines to extract juice from the mangoes.
“The government could also easily deal with such a Coop to set up a fruit factory in the area. That way, the mangoes would be on demand to meet the industrial requirements,” Batwala argued.
Aggrey Musena, the Luuka district production officer said juice-making factories often pick fruits from farmers in large quantities.
“The onus is on farmers to bulk their produce to ensure they benefit from such big buyers. The time is now to unite and sell profitably as a group, ” he suggested. He added that under such organisation, the farmers could even manage procuring cold storage facilities to keep their fruits fresh for a longer period of time.
