Last Friday, all roads led to Namboole Stadium for the Harvest Money Expo, 2025. The exhibitors’ stalls were abuzz as people visited them to buy, inquire and even watch some demonstrations.
It was quite an engaging affair for all: farmers, prospective farmers and even students from several schools. The engagement was also evident in the training rooms, where eager audiences paid attention to nuggets of wisdom from farming experts.
Reagan Kiganda, from the Integrated Health Kwagala Farm, said value addition involves converting raw materials into products with a higher value.
“For instance, you can sell milk, or you can sell yoghurt and cheese. In so doing, it adds a shelf life to raw materials; for example, potatoes versus crisps,” he said.
At their farm, Kiganda said they also gain from value addition by making use of nearly every product of the farm.
“We don’t look at a cow for only milk. We use the dung for biogas and the rest of the dung is used as organic fertiliser, which we package and sell,” he said.
Kiganda delved into the processes that a farmer should follow to achieve value addition:
Processing: This is where the raw material is transformed into another product, say churning milk into cheese.
Packaging: This one is about making the product attractive to gain consumers’ appeal and also give the product a long shelf life.
Quality control: This is where the product has to be safe for consumption or use.
Marketing and branding: This is for people to understand what your product is. In other words, it is about making the market aware of your product.
Value of banana stems
Uganda is one of the world’s largest banana producers and a world leader in the product’s consumption.
However, in many Ugandan farms, banana stems are always left to decompose after the fruit is harvested.
Unknown to farmers, the stem can be recycled to make other biodegradable products with ease.
A new brand of hair extensions is now being extracted through a research discovery by the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NaRL) at Kawanda in Wakiso.
Ronald Katwaza, a researcher, through the National Banana Programme under NaRL, said banana fibre is being turned into other products, which also helps to alleviate air and soil pollution challenges.
Degradable hair extensions are a hot cake now, being a preferred alternative to plastic ones, which damage the environment when disposed of after use.
Katwaza is positive about this innovation, saying it is safe and non-allergic to the skin because of its organic raw material composition.
“Banana fibres are now processed with a cotton[1]like material that is very absorbent and used in making sanitary pads to bridge the gap of school-going children dropping out during their menstruation days.”
The hair extensions, sanitary pads, table mats, door mats and other banana fibre products were available at the NARO tent, one of the exhibitors at the just-concluded Harvest Money Expo, organised by Vision Group.
The fireless cooker
Due to increased costs in buying charcoal to prepare meals while cutting down trees, the Joint Energy and Environment Project (JEEP) s determined to turn back the global warming clock through their different efforts.
For example, they innovated a fireless basket cooker that aims at saving the amount of charcoal and firewood during the cooking process, which reduces pressure on the country’s forests, among other added health benefits.
Mark Tumusiime, the energy and environment officer at JEEP, said the fireless basket cooker completes the cooking process without the use of any other biomass energy apart from the insulated heat in the basket that is provided by the hot saucepan placed and covered into the basket. It also saves 80% of the cooking fuel, mainly firewood.
Tumusiime added that although it is commonly known or called the wonder cooking basket, the fireless pan has cotton sewn in it, held in place with a sewn cotton cloth and a fitting cotton cloth lid.
“We emphasise the use of cotton because it has been proved to be a good thermal insulator, whereas other cloth types such as silk and polyester cannot stand the heat,” Tumusiime says.
The fireless pan cooks different kinds of food and keeps it hot for seven hours.
Apart from not using non-thermal insulator material and not being applicable to all foods, the basket has other limitations, such as not opening food placed in the basket until it’s ready in order to avoid the escape of the heat.
The basket also has to be kept dry because once the cotton is wet, it cannot serve its thermal insulator purpose well.
After cooking, the food should not be left in the basket for more than seven hours to avoid probable growth of micro-organisms. It is also advisable to change the cloth for washing every six months.
BIOMAS dependence
The Biomass Energy Strategy 2013 says Uganda’s dependence on tree biomass is unsustainable, with the demand estimated at 44 million tonnes per annum compared to a supply of 26 million tonnes per annum.
The fireless basket cooker was displayed at this year’s Vision Group’s Harvest Money Expo at Namboole, which equipped farmers with information about agricultural mechanisation, value addition and farming as a business.
Farm mechanisation: We harvested money at expo
Lawrence Kayiwa, a sales executive at ENGSOL, said the expo is no longer just for viewing; farmers come to buy, as many products are sold at discounted prices during the three days of the event.
“People heard our announcement of a discount of up to 15% on all our tractors and implements for transactions made at Namboole during the days of the show. Farmers have bought and booked tractors, and we will be delivering them to their locations,” he said.
Kayiwa said they are always excited to be part of the expo since its inception, which has seen their sales and profitability grow. He said their impact and contribution to the agricultural sector is increasing every year.
“It is always exciting and heart-warming to be part of the Harvest Money Expo, which brings together all the sector players in agriculture, from input dealers and machinery and technology companies to finance and insurance providers, researchers and policymakers,” he added.
This year, ENGSOL exhibited an exciting and impressive system that allows a tractor to be operated via a phone or computer, enabling one operator to control up to 10 tractors at the same time.
Best exhibitors awarded
The best exhibitors at the Netherlands Village were awarded as a way of recognising their efforts. Urban Green was named the overall best exhibitor, Biglad Mixed Farm, one of the best farmer winners, won Best Display, WastePlus was awarded Best Innovator, and Westlink Delicacy Api Group Ltd won in the Youth Category.
Innovation: we have an aflatoxin testing machine — Mandela millers
Paul Kato, the sales manager at Mandela Millers, says the expo has been very effective, as showgoers were focused on what they wanted, unlike other events that mix agriculture with leisure activities.
“The Harvest Money Expo brings quality experts who provide valuable information about all the sectors through training sessions and at the stalls. At our stall, people have bought our products, from fortified flours to tires,” he said.
He highlighted the issue of aflatoxins, which can cause poisoning in food due to poor post-harvest handling, especially with grains such as maize, cereals and groundnuts.
“This problem arises when grains are not properly dried or stored. At Mandela, we check for the presence of aflatoxins in grains to ensure we keep our customers healthy. Additionally, our flours are fortified with essential minerals and vitamins,” he added.
Kato said farmers who visited their stall were trained on how to avoid aflatoxins in their grain.
However, agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze urged Mandela to get in touch with the National Agricultural Research Organisation to work on commercialising Aflasafe, which can help manage aflatoxins in grains, especially maize
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Visitors at the Harvest Money Expo exploring diverse seeds and produce displayed by exhibitors promoting sustainable agriculture practices and innovation.
