By Carol Kasujja Adii
Horticulture farmers have appealed to the government to provide them with quality seedlings, crucial for exporting produce and generating substantial economic benefits.
This was revealed during the launch of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC) Horticulture Accelerator (CEHA), Uganda National Chapter, which aims to expedite the growth of the fruit and vegetable sub-sector across the COMESA and EAC regions, with a specific focus on Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
CEHA targets intra-regional trade value in fruits and vegetables to be $25 million (about shillings 92.7b) and global exports from $416 million to $950 million (shillings 3.5trillion) by 2031.
Florence Nakitto, the CEHA chairperson in Uganda, noted that the emphasis is on two key anchor value chains in Uganda, which are avocado and onions.
“These value chains were selected due to shared agronomic, logistical, and regulatory challenges and opportunities. The goal is to leverage the significant potential of these value chains to generate substantial economic benefits and job creation,” Nakitto said.
Speaking at the launch, Ambassador John Muyambi, who is investing in onions and Hass avocado growing, noted that people who are operating nursery beds mix tree seedlings and in the end, it is the farmers who lose out.
“As farmers, we need to identify the real nursery beds because some of the people with nursery beds are not after quality just money. In Ntungamo we have onions, but our onions are mixed with those of Tanzania that is why we end up not exporting,” Muyambi said.
Muyambi also called upon the government to help them with storing facilities because they have the onions but since they are perishables, they end up making losses.
“Onions have the market because every meal must have an onion but the price is low. When you harvest, you cannot keep them for long, because you do not want them to rot, you end up selling them at a lower price but if we had storage facilities we would store them and when the supply is good, you keep them, when there is a supply shortage, you bring them out and make money,” Muyambi noted.
Addressing guests, Noeline Namara, a farmer in the Kigezi sub-region said that onions have helped the youth in the region to fight unemployment and reduce poverty but because of poor infrastructure, they are still struggling.
“We are majoring in onions but because of poor quality and inconsistency we are struggling that is why we need more support from the government,” Namara said.
Apollo Owuor, the CEHA regional coordinator, of the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA), called upon women and the youth to join the Horticultural industry because it offers significant potential for improving their financial urgency.
“Given that a 50-percent proportion of female workers are along the value chains, from farming to processing and marketing, they should embrace it,” Owuor said.
Officiating at the launch, Steven Byantware, the director for crop resources in the Ministry Of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) pledged to work closely with all the Ugandan farmers and their associations to maximise the benefit from CEHA.
“This program we have launched has come at the right time and we guide our farmers to utilize the Parish Development funds, it will be a breakthrough if we tell Ugandan farmers what to grow, and they will do it and will get money because onions have a huge market in the region,” Byantware said.
In Uganda and Tanzania, the onion value chain is expected to capitalise on strong brand quality and growing demand to create more than 230,000 rural jobs. Currently at $4 billion, high-value fruits and vegetables are consistently more profitable than cereals and other traditional staple crops, and their demands at both domestic and export markets keep on increasing.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Ambassador John Muyambi, who is investing in onions and Hass avocado growing, noted that people who are operating nursery beds mix tree seedlings and in the end, it is the farmers who lose out. (Courtesy Photo)
