By Vision Reporter
Abel Mwaka, a maize farmer and mill says that you need 100kgs of maize grain to produce 70kgs of fine maize flour.
If you sell each kilogram of flour at sh1,500, this means that you get around sh105,000 from the 70kgs. Comparatively, if you had sold these 100kgs as grain at sh500 each, you would have got sh50,000 from the same.
In addition to the 70kgs of fine flour, you also retain at least 20kgs of maize bran. With each kilogram going for sh700, this means that this is an additional sh14,000 from the flour, making a total of sh119,000 from the 100kgs of maize.
Additionally, from every 100kgs of maize grain, there is 25kgs of maize bran after the flour is milled. At sh700 per kilogram, this gives a farmer an additional sh17,500 for every 100kgs.
Mwaka explains that even if a farmer does not have his own flour mill, he can take the grain to the nearest mill.
At the mills, a kilogram of flour is milled at between sh150-sh200. This means that if a farmer has 100kgs, he spends sh20,000 on milling the flour. This means that his profit reduces by sh20,000 to around sh90,000. This is still much better than selling raw grain.
According to Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) statistics, on average, an acre of maize produces 800kgs in Uganda. This means if a farmer sells each kilogram at sh500, then he can only earn sh400,000 from his efforts. However, if he added value to the same, he would earn sh90,000 for every 100kgs, which adds up to around sh900,000.
This means that if a farmer with 15acres sells his maize as flour, he would have 21tons of fine flour and at least sh31m in addition to earnings from maize bran.
Setting up a maize mill
According to Joshua Ssebanakitta, a farm machinery fabricator, the requirements for a maize/cereals mill depend on the size of the unit that you want to use.
He says there are small units that produce 100kgs of flour per hour for example. There are medium units that produce 300-400kgs of flour per hour and larger units that produce 700kgs and above.
“A unit that can process 500kgs per hour costs around sh12m. This is a complete set. It comes complete with a huller, a thresher, a miller and an engine or motor. But even as low as sh6m, a farmer or investor can have a complete set with a capacity to process at least 300-400kgs an hour (depending on size of the screen),” he explains.
Machinery requirements at a glance for a small size mill
Maize thresher-sh2.2m
Maize huller-sh2.3m
Maize miller-sh3.5m
Engine or motor sh2.5m
Others include a low or hoisted weighing scale, sacks for packing and of course labour. These may cost around sh1.5m. Overall, the total cost of starting a medium-sized maize mill is around sh12m on average, fully registered as a company.
Costs of running a mill
According to estimates, you need around sh0.9m to mill a ton of maize flour. A ton has got 1000kgs. These expenses include cost of the maize grain, power/fuel for the generators, labour costs plus wear and tear of machinery.
To process a ton of good flour, you need around 1.8tons of maize grain. At a cost of sh500 per kilogram of grain, this means that you spend sh900,000 on the grain. The other money is spent on labor, power and sacks for packing the flour.
At the current cost of sh1500 per kilogram of flour, the mill will make sh1.5m from the ton of flour. This gives a profit of around sh500,000.
Comparatively, a farmer earned only sh900,000 from the same raw material. If the mill operates constantly, you can recover the costs of investment in less than one year.
Other products from maize
There are other ways of adding value to maize. For example, dried grains can be roasted and eaten as snacks. Again, across many super markets, a half kilogram pack of roasted maize grain goes for between sh1000-sh1500.
Children’s favourite crunches and snacks like gorrillos are made using maize flour as a base.
Maize is also used to create whole grains-like maize cereals.
It is used to make bread, pancakes and even beer.
With its high levels of starch, maize bran is a key component of livestock feeds. A kilogram of maize bran goes for sh700. Additionally, maize stovers can be used to make silage for livestock.
