Value addition was one of the focus points at the Harvest Money Expo and as such a number of exhibitors showcased different products made from both their harvest but also buying from other farmers.
The expo took place between February 14-16, at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole in Wakiso district.
Bella Wine
The K-ROMA stall was a centre of attraction to many show-goers with its beautiful and attractive Bella, the producers of Bella products including Bella wine, Bella juice and Bella tea.
Prudence Ukkunika, the director K-Roma, says there was a massive turnout at her tent, especially on Friday, February 14, which was Valentine’s Day as those in love flocked the tent to buy Valentine’s gifts for their loved ones.
“We make these products from fruits such as pineapples, mangoes, passion fruits and hibiscus for the tea. I urge especially the youth and housewives who don’t have office jobs, much capital and land to venture into this business because you don’t need a lot to start,” she says.
Ukkunika says she started with just sh100,000, money she used to buy fruits, charcoal and yeast.
She started with the already available kitchen utensils such as saucepans, knives and charcoal stove, which she believes is affordable to many.
“Many farmers are selling their products at give-away prices, especially fruits during the bumper harvest, because they are perishable and yet there is a lot in the market that a big pineapple can go for as low as sh500 at farm gate at sh800 in the market. Farmers should also learn to add value to their fruits to maximise their farm profits,” she advised.
Macadamia products
Julius Bigabwa of Biglad Agro-tourism Farm in Kabarole district and one of the Best Farmers winners, exhibited in the Netherlands village.
The macadamia production value chain products attracted many. No wonder he won as one the best exhibitors at the Netherlands village.
For the case of value-added products, Bigabwa exhibited macadamia nuts, which were enjoyed by many.
Bigabwa said ever since he discovered the gold in macadamia, he has made it a family business and plans to expand his orchard.
Bigabwa said macadamia is harvested by picking only dropped fruits because if they are picked from the tree, you can harvest the immature ones, which will give you poor quality.
He said a well-managed macadamia tree can yield up to 160kg and the average is 100kg per tree a season (after removing the top cover) because macadamia bears fruits all year round.
Each kilogramme is sold at sh5,000, meaning that one can get sh500,000 per a tree.
“For every 4kg of shelled seeds sold at sh5,000 per a kilogramme, one get 1kg of clean seed sold as nuts at sh100,000. Here, you will get 25kg of clean seed equating to sh2.5m.
Pasteurised eggs
Pasteurised liquid eggs and powdered eggs were an attractive innovation to many poultry farmers and lovers, wondering how eggs can be packaged from their shells.
It was an innovation exhibited by Pristine Foods, one of the companies supported by aBi and exhibited under the Denmark village.
For a long time, farmers have been advised to add value to their eggs, but they could only use them for baking cakes and packaging them into modern trays and labelling them for sale.
Joel Guma, a manager at Pristine Foods, who process eggs into pasteurised whole eggs, liquid egg white and liquid egg yolk packaged into jerrycans of different sizes to enable every person of different income levels access the eggs.
“We have machinery to process our eggs throughout the whole process to ensure quality. We not only process the liquid eggs, but also process powder from shells and also have plans to have powdered eggs also in whole egg, white and yolk since some people want to eat specific parts of the egg and also factories use specific parts as raw materials”, he says.
Silver fish
Dokolo distributors Atom Uganda Ltd exhibited silver fish products such as fried, pasted and porridge, which were very delicious and exciting to many who visited their stall.
Winifred Nannungi, the director of Dokolo Distributors Atom Uganda Ltd, says they add value to silver fish to make it attractive and palatable to many given its health benefits, especially to the young and elderly.
She adds that silver fish has been neglected by many yet it is among the most notorious foods, which is why they devised ways of making it attractive for all.
They sell a kilogramme of well dried silverfish at sh12,000, and above.
Cassava cakes
Did you know that cassava flour can be used to bake delicious soft cakes and other confectioneries?
It was all at the Harvest Money Expo as Cassava Product Uganda exhibited cakes made from cassava flour.
George Pamba Osinya, the company director, says the main aim is to develop and promote a robust cassava production value chain in Uganda, given the fact that cassava is one of the profitable enterprises in the country.
“We are using cassava to produce industrial starch, animal feed and quality flour. We have developed a technology that produces quality chips free of soil particles and aflatoxins. This reduces post-harvest losses, thus increasing profitability for farmers,” he adds.
NARO products
The National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), exhibited a number of products that can be produced from different crops and animals as a way of promoting farming as a business as farmers will now increase their farm profits.
NARO has come up with four products including; banana fibre for paper and textile industry, resistant starch for health, industrial ethanol and nano packaging technology to support extending the shelf life of fresh peeled bananas.
Banana fibre is mainly for cottage/ craft industry, but has great value in a number of industrial applications such as textile, paper, carpets, for hair extension, sanitary towels.
Fibre is also strong and can be used for making car tires, paper money currencies such as the Japanese yen are made from banana fibre.
According to the trade ministry statistics, in the fi nancial year 2019/2020, only Uganda imported packaging paper worth $105m.
Smoked meat
Kagiira Farm exhibited smoked and packaged meat with a shelf life of up to six months.
Joshua Sysia, the manager of Kagiira Skills Centre and Kagiira Farm, says farmers should embrace value addition because it increases profitability of the farm.
In addition, they add value to the milk by making yoghurt, sausages — both meat and chicken — which are well seasoned.
He calls upon the youth to embrace vocational skills, especially in the line of agricultural value addition such as making ghee, tomato sauce and sausages, because it gives quick returns on investment rather than looking for office work.
Coffee byproducts
National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) has coffee extracts that can be infused into yoghurt.
Yoghurt is one of the products consumed by all age groups, which will in the end increase domestic consumption as well as promote entrepreneurship and industrialisation.
Coffee cake: With cakes becoming one of the common consumer bits, especially among the elites and modern societies, the institute has produced coffee cake ingredients that bakers can use to produce coffee flavoured cakes for all ceremonies.
Cosmetics: Through research, NaCORI has discovered that coffee has numerous compounds that play a role in anti-aging, wound-healing and skin repair. Coffee seed oil reduces degradation of collagen and elastin, making the skin look and feel firmer.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Nannungi showcasing silver fi sh products at the Harvest Money Expo in February at Namboole.
