By Joshua Kato
A series of hands on trainings have been organised at the 2023 Harvest Money Expo. These will run from Friday, February 10to Sunday February 12. Trainees will have to pay sh20,000 to enter the Expo and also attend the trainings for a whole day. This is to give farmers the best agronomical practices and value addition tips throughout the production value chains of the different enterprises to equip farmers with knowledge on whatever they want to engage in.
Every session will have information on postharvest handling and value addition, however there are also several sessions that are specific on value addition, that have been organized in the evenings. The evening sessions will be free of charge.
Day 2 (Saturday, February 11) will feature the following trainings;
Bee keeping
This willbe conducted by Steven Kunihira – (Mr Bees and Alice Kangave, a bee keeper and f Entomologist. The trainers will focus on general apiary management plus value addition on honey products. “There are so many products that are produced by bees. Bee venom is one of these and yet very few farmers in Uganda are harvesting it,” Kunihira says. They will also discuss proper postharvest handling of honey.
Rabbit keeping
Commercial rabbit keeping is one of the emerging enterprises in the country. However, few farmers have really grasped the right practices. This training will be handled by Muawiya Mukasa owner of Kalf farm in Kapeeka and Beatrice Luzobe a commercial rabbit farmer and owner of Learn Enterprises.“We shall handle breeding, management, marketing and value addition to rabbits,” says Luzobe.
Mushroom farming
The other training on Saturday morning will be postharvest and value addition on Mushrooms byAbel Kiddu, who is one of the best farmers and the power house for mushroom growing in Uganda. He now makes wines, cosmetics and other powdered products that fetch more money for the farm.
Vegetable farming and green housing
Vegetables are a staple must eat for most Ugandans. Many people spend a lot of money on buying vegetables from the market and yet they can grow them on their farms. Joseph Male-best farmer 2019, will show trainees how to grow vegetables. “I will look at growing vegetables in both small and large spaces and explain the input required for maximum profit,” he says.
Zero grazing/dairy
This will be handled by Dr Jolly Kabirizi. Kabirizi is a retired livestock nutritionists who has worked with NARO/NaLIRRI for over 40years. Kabirizi has done extensive research on dairy cattle management.
“I will focus on using innovative methods to reduce the cost of feeding cattle in an urban setting, including using market waste,” she says.
Keeping indigenous birds
This is another enterprise that Ugandans are adopting commercially. Keeping just 100 local birds can give you not only enough chicken meat for your family, but also eggs and chicken meat for sale. And yet, managing them is not as strenuous. This particular session on Saturday afternoon will be handled by Doris Kairu, an indigenous poultry keeper and trainer.
“We shall not focus only on chicken, but also turkey and ducks,” she says.
