By Umar Nsubuga
Professor Kant Kanyarusoke, the head of chemical and process engineering at Busitema University and director of Renewable Energy For Food and Water Engineering, says silos are now the focal point of the grain trade if any farmer thinks of commercial farming.
Kanyarusoke says any person who wants to become a commercial farmer should consider storage facilities like silos.
He says a standard silo has a required moisture content which will be dried further because it can be stored safely for over a year in these silos.
Prof Kanyarusoke advises farmers that agriculture is a serious business, if you do farming and you operate with a silo, that is an extension of agribusiness.
At REFWE, designed silos contain 8-9 tonnes of grains.
Kanyarusoke makes silos of the latest technology for storage, as opposed to traditional grain storage facilities such as granaries.
According to Kanyarusoke, the produce can be stored for up to a year or two without anything happening to it.
For example, the silos at REFWE farm have been used to store various grains and their qualities maintained for over two years without the use of synthetic chemicals.
The silos are modern steel in nature and when it is hot, the sunrays are bounced back to maintain the cool temperatures in the silos.
He advises farmers to learn from him to improve their post-harvest handling by owning their silos.
“For a farmer who planned to have a silo would provide food during lean times as well as seed for the next planting season,” Kanyarusoke says.
“If government supports me and I make silos for commercial farmers, this will go a long way in putting Uganda in its right place as the food basket of the region and beyond,” he says.
Moses Nuwagaba, a resident of Isanga village in Kyegegwa says Kanyarusoke’s spacious silos are large enough to store maize, and the construction of these silos have triggered and motivated many farmers to their area.
