The Minister for Agriculture Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, has instructed the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) to set up a full-fledged animal feed manufacturing unit.
This, he believes will produce animal feeds for all common animals especially for smallholder farmers dealing in poultry, piggery, aquaculture including cattle feeds.
“As MAAIF, in our next project, lets support NARO under that project so that we have an operational feed mill.
The current outcry is animal feed and if we can do it here, the farmers and business people can come here and buy the feeds the way foundation seeds are sold to private seed companies.
If you are selling the animal concentrates here and animal feed sellers buy from you, they will sell these concentrates cheaper than the ones imported from Holland,” said the minister.
Tumwebaze instructed the council and management of NARO, saying with the available infrastructure plus the knowledge, it’s a question of doing business mathematics and establishing the capital investment and its output.
“We must guarantee food security of the country and animal feed because when you feed the animals, they can also feed you and your food security is guaranteed,” he said.
The director National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NARO-NaLRRI), Dr. Sudick Mugerwa, said the unit which is currently manufacturing feeds ranging from poultry, rabbits, cattle and fish among others can produce five tonnes of feed daily.
“We are hopeful that with increased support, we can partner with the private sector to produce massively to enhance animal feed security of the country,” he said.
The minister also instructed NARO to set up a fully-fledged knowledge transfer Centre where farmers can gather and stay for a night to learn.
“Go and benchmark Kyankwanzi, you can work with our PS who was the former Director of Kyankwanzi and see how they have managed to build dormitories cheaply, you can also work with our engineering department….” he advised.
