The management of Soroti fruit factory is struggling to recover from losses resulting from the COVID-19-related lockdown.
According to Douglas Kakyukyu Ndawula the factory’s Executive Director, the company registered an 87% drop in sales during the lockdown period.
“Although the factory was operating during the lockdown, sales were poor because all the companies that used to buy the products were closed,” Ndawula explained.
He is hopeful that sales will recover, now that the lock down has been lifted.
“The market is already picking up, and we hope it will recover soon,,“ he said.
The factory, which is located in Soroti, Eastern Uganda, was established by the government of Uganda in 2014 to support value addition in fruit processing, promote industrial growth and boost household incomes in the sub region.
According to Ndawula, the fruit processing plant has a capacity to consume 6,000kg of oranges, 2,000kg of mangoes and 4,000kg of pineapples per hour, and produces several juice and concentrate products under the Teju brand.
“Its main products are juice concentrates (Mango, Orange and Lemon) and ready-to-drink juice which must meet the required domestic, regional and international standards,” he said.
Supporting cooperatives
Ndawula said the company has so far bought a total 2,500,000 kg of oranges from 109 farmer cooperative unions, primary cooperative societies, associations, and companies that were registered to supply the factory with fruits from the Eastern and Northern parts of Uganda.
He said the company is still in need of supply of specific fruit varieties from farmers:
“I want to inform farmers that the only improved mango varieties we buy include: Boribo, Kakule, Tommy Atkins, Zillet, Apple Mango, Kent, Keitt and Haden well improved varieties, while for oranges we only buy Valencia, Washington Naval and Hamiline.”
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Corti Paul Lakuma, a Policy Analyst and Researcher with Makerere based Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) has expressed faith that Uganda’s economy is beginning to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, months after government started easing a nationwide lockdown.
In an interview with theCooperator, Lakuma recalled that a May 2020 survey conducted by the research body found that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were drastically affected by the pandemic and subsequent containment policies.
However, the researcher argues that businesses are now beginning to recover from the economic downturn.
“From my experience as an economist, I can say that the economy is starting to recover, although not at the desired speed. Businesses are doing better than they were two or three months ago,” Lakuma observed, although he was quick to add that this judgement is based on intuition rather than hard evidence.
“We (EP RC) are now conducting a post-lockdown survey to provide empirical evidence on the current state of SMEs in the country,” he said.
In a statement issued last week, the Central Bank revealed that economic activity in Uganda was beginning to pick up.
“Economic activity grew by 5.7% month-on-month in June, indicating pickup for our economy, relative to the contraction registered three months towards May 2020,” Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile, the Governor Bank of Uganda (BoU) noted.
“The purchasing index also continued to register improvements since May 2020, and slightly crossed the 50 mark, indicating improvements in the business environment,” he added. COVID-19 disrupted both demand and supply of goods and services in the economy.
Mutebile said that whereas supply will initially recover with easing of the economy, demand can only gradually improve with increased export and domestic confidence to spend.
The subdued local confidence to spend is being orchestrated by months of lost incomes, during extended lockdown periods, and looming anxiety over another potential total lockdown, in case community cases skyrocket. Currently, Uganda has registered 15 COVID-19 deaths.
“The economic outlook is extremely uncertain, largely because of the unpredictable spread of COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing Non-Performing loans and high lending interest rates could delay the recovery of private sector credit extensions to pre-COVID levels,” Mutebile argued.
He also communicated that the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting of August 2020 maintained the Central Bank Rate at 7% and expressed BoU’s commitment to provide liquidity support to Supervised Financial Institutions (SFIs).
This is one of the moves intended to accelerate economic growth, projected to be in the 3-4% range for FY 2020/21. On a related note,, amidst outcry for government support to distressed businesses, the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) on August 10, 2020 called for SMEs engaged in primary agriculture, agro industrialization and manufacturing to apply for credit financing, under government’s COVID-19 stimulus package.
The stimulus package is part of over Shs 1 trillion that government, this Financial Year, sunk into UDB to support economic recovery through production of essential goods and services, import substitution and export promotion.
According to the call by UDB, the credit facility will offer businesses a minimum of Shs 100 million at 12% interest rate. However, actors in the SME sector have warned that UDB only offers credit financing to long-term development projects, rendering it unsuitable to meet the immediate short-term liquidity relief businesses need to recover.
Experts like Lakuma also argue that Uganda’s private sector is largely informal, yet financial institutions such as UDB require formality, which creates inequity in distribution of relief financing under government’s stimulus package.
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While several SACCOs around the country suffered serious setbacks during the COVID-19 induced lockdown, Lyamujungu Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) in Kabale registered a 10% increase in savings, according to Dick Byamukama, the SACCO’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Byamukama, who last week, attended the cooperative leadership induction organized by The Uhuru Institute (TUI), attributed the increase in savings to closure of schools, one of the measures instituted to limit spread of the pandemic.
“The increase in savings is estimated to be at 10%. It’s unbelievable, because initially we thought savings would be reduced. We suspect that the increase was a result of parents not paying school fees for their children, so they instead saved this money with the SACCO,” he said.
However, Byamukama believes that the tide might shift when schools reopen. In response, the SACCO has made some prudential investments using the surplus savings received during the past few months.
”We have fixed over one billion shillings with Link bank and we expect some good interest at the expiry of three months,” Byamukama added.
In his last COVID-19 address to the nation made last month, President Museveni said Cabinet is yet to decide on the fate of schools and, along with them, that of about 15 million learners, a decision he promised to communicate this month.
Among guidelines issued by Minister of State for Cooperatives during the celebration of International Cooperatives Day on 4th July this year, Hon. Frederick Ngobi Gume directed cooperatives, during lockdown, to refrain from decision that bear financial costs to the organization, restricting them to only operational budget expenses and essential services like salaries, while dividends and bonuses await the Annual General Meeting.
The impacts of COVID-19 on the health and operations of cooperatives were generally devastating for many societies like Panyemuri Dei Area Cooperative Society (PD-ACS) in Pakwach district, who continue to experience declining savings due economic hardship occasioned by the pandemic among its members.
‘Leverage tech’
During the weeklong TUI cooperative leaders’ training that ended last Thursday, Robert Mpakibi, the Assistant Commissioner for Cooperatives, advised cooperators to leverage on technology use to mitigate some of COVID-19’s to normal operations of cooperatives.
Dick Byamukama intimated that due to lockdown restrictions on movement, which limited members’ ability to bring savings to Lyamujungu head offices, the cooperative acquired Savings-Plus, software that is currently enabling members make mobile savings from the convenience of their homes, cutting costs on transport.
Absence of regulation to guide the promotion of good quality seed has long afflicted the agricultural sector, a loophole that some seed companies have in the past exploited to supply fake seeds to farmers.
In response to this challenge, the 2018 National Seed Policy was drafted to encourage increased use of improved varieties of domestic, regional and international markets. The policy aimed at fostering development of a vibrant seed sub sector in Uganda.
It is against this background that MAAIF, in partnership with The Integrated Seed Sector Development programme in Uganda (ISSD), organised regional dissemination meetings to sensitise the District Agricultural Officers (DAOs) and farmer representatives about the implementation of the policy.
The meeting was held at the Kabarole district headquarters and was attended by all District Agricultural Officers (DAOs) and farmer representatives from the nine districts of Rwenzori sub region.
According to Consolata Acayo, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Information and Communication from the Directorate of Agricultural extension in the Ministry of Agriculture, good quality seed is the foundation of agriculture and solves 60 percent of agricultural problems.
“We need our farmers to know the importance of good quality seed. Many farmers are used to keeping seed from the previous harvest, resulting in poor production,” she said, adding that the dissemination meetings would help stakeholders who are supposed to implement the seed policy.
Dr. Bony Ntare, the seed system and policy consultant with ISSD Uganda said the Seed Policy will be the foundation for the development of Uganda’s agricultural sector and ensure quality assurance for the seed sector.
He advised farmers to buy from only certified companies to avoid fake seed which, he said, affects productivity.
“All seed companies in the country should be regulated for the good of the agriculture sector,” he said.
Moses Erongu, the Senior Seed Inspector, MAAIF, said farmers’ reliance on home-saved seed is the result of a lack of trust in the certified seed available on the market.
Nelson Masereka, the Executive Secretary, Uganda Seed Trade Association, welcomed the intervention, saying that the absence of a regulatory framework has been one of the main challenges facing the sector.
The Uganda Seed Trade Association is an umbrella for seed companies in Uganda and is licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture to produce and market seed.
“Farmers have got a lot of information that has confused them and sometimes they don’t know where to go. For example they have been getting seeds from OWC and they have been blaming our companies over fake seeds,” he said.
Masereka called upon government to help farmers procure quality hybrid seed.
Bangirana Costance a member of Kamwenge Farmers Tukorere Hamwe in Kamwenge district said they multiply bean seeds with the help of National Research Organization (NARO). She said this has helped them avoid fake seeds.
“Some of our farmers don’t buy seeds from our group; they go to shops and end up buying fake seeds which are not certified and end up getting poor yields,” she said.
Farmers in Acoli are counting losses due to the heavy rains currently being experienced in the area.
The heavy rains that started in May have destroyed several kilometres of roads cutting off farmers from markets. In Gulu district, at least 332 kilometres of road and 8 bridges have collapsed due to heavy downpours over the last two months.
Meanwhile, in Paicho Sub County where Paicho Area Cooperative Enterprise is located, farmers are now spending more to take their maize, beans and soya beans for storage.
“A distance which used to cost 2,000 shillings on a Boda-boda is now costing Shs 4,000. This will greatly affect profits,” Charles Obwona, the Chairperson, Paicho Area Cooperative Enterprise said.
The co-op Chairperson is concerned that the increased transport costs could put the farmers at the mercy of unscrupulous middlemen.
“I am afraid some of our members may be tempted to sell off their crops to middle men who manage to manoeuvre to the villages.
Paicho Area Cooperative Enterprise Limited which mainly grows Maize, soya beans and beans has a total of 295 members.
Obwona also noted that several farmers are unable to harvest and dry their crops because of the constant rains.
“Many of our members are struggling to harvest their crops which are rotting in the garden,” he said.
Meanwhile, in Nwoya district, hundreds of farmers in Alero and Lungulu have been cut off after Wii Aswa Bridge that connects the two sub counties got destroyed by heavy rains.
Farmers have resorted to using a longer alternative route of over 15 kilometres via Amuru district to access a nearby market. The same market is located just one kilometre away using the now broken bridge.
Anywar Peter Okumu, the Nwoya District Roads Engineer says the district plans to build a temporary bridge so that farmers do not lose out.
In Agago district, Charles Odyek, the Chairperson of Lukole Cooperative which has 1,775 members says farmers are stuck with their crops in the garden.
“Farmers are right now busy harvesting but bringing the crops to the store is a challenge because the roads are in a bad state,” he said.
As a result, Odyek said, their 100 metric tonne store is still empty, but hopes that farmers who have resorted to buying tarpaulins to dry their crops will soon start bringing their harvest in. Lukole Cooperative mainly deals in soya beans, maize, simsim and sorghum.
Farmers are worried that repair works of destroyed roads may take long to start as political leaders are now busy with campaigns.
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Bee farmers in Amudat district in Karamoja sub region have appealed to the government and any well-wishers to provide them with a honey processing plant in order to boost their income through value addition.
Paulina Cherop, one of the bee farmers in Loro Sub County in Amudat district, explained that they do not earn much from their honey business because they are forced to sell it unprocessed.
“One kilogram of unprocessed honey is sold at Shs 10,000 and Shs 30,000 for the processed. We are being cheated by buyers who takeour honey cheaply since we don’t have the machine to process it,” she said.
Mathew Lopong another bee farmer from Acoricori village in Amudat Sub County said many people in Amudat are moving away from other types of farming and embracing bee keeping which, he says, is not so labour intensive.
“The venture has been lucrative for me; it doesn’t have much work like weeding in gardens, and is easier than poultry which requires feeding and treating birds. Bees look for their own food and you only provide a water source for them and prevent bush burning,” he said.
Betty Chapal, another farmer, said she started the project with only 10 beehives but now has 300 beehives, 290 of which are colonized and ready for harvesting. She, too, says the inability to process her honey negatively impacts on her profit margin.
“I would have earned Shs 20m from the honey that I will be harvesting next month if it was processed, but now there is no machine, I will get much less,” she said.
Gloria Apio, the Principal Entomologist in Amudat district, said most families in the area have turned to bee keeping due to unreliable rainfall for crop production in the district
She also acknowledges the need for government to set up a processing plant in Amudat so that farmers can process and package their honey.
“Our farmers just sell the honey after harvest to Kenya and we lose the by-products that can be got from honey such as shoe polish, wax, candles, and jelly,” she said.
Other by-products of honey include propolis, royal jelly, medicine, soap and others. Honey is also known to have medicinal value and can help to improve cholesterol levels in the body.
Apio said last season Amudat district produced up to 9,000 kilograms of honey which was sold to Baringo in Kenya.
“This honey was packaged as ‘Baringo honey’ and yet it is from Amudat district in Uganda,” she said, adding that if a processing plant is put in place, Amudat could produce up to 40,000 kilograms of honey in every season.
Masokonyi Waswa the Chief Administrative Officer, Amudat district, said he has directed that more funding under the district’s production budget be allocated to beekeeping.
“Our honey was tested in Europe and declared one of the best honeys in the world,” he boasted.
Meanwhile, Francis Kiyonga the district LC V Chairperson said he has written several appeals to the ministry of agriculture requesting that a honey processing plant be constructed in Amudat, with no success so far.
He said about 2,000 people have ventured into bee keeping after finding it profitable.
Several traders who lost their merchandise in the Saturday July 11 conflagration that engulfed Nyamityobora market suspect that the popular market was deliberately torched by motivated individuals, despite the police’s insistence that the cause of the fire is as yet unknown.
Located at Mile Two on Mbarara-Masaka road, the iconic Nyamityobora market- sometimes named Kijungu- is one of the sights that welcome you into Mbarara Town.
Vendors in Nyamityobora Daily Market were left in tears after an abrupt fire gutted the iconic market and destroyed property worth over Shs 500m.
The fierce blaze started in the wee hours of the night and destroyed a lot of property including tonnes of dry and fresh food stuffs, stalls, clothes, shoes and several eateries within Kijungu cell, Nyamityobora division, in the new Mbarara City
Nyamityobora market Chairperson, Wilson Rwamukore, confirmed that a total of 600 registered traders had lost property worth Shs 500m, including the market office.
“It has 600 traders and property worth Shs 500 million had been lost; even my money and books were burnt in the office. I was informed at 4 am, and and by the time I reached here, the entire market had been burnt,” Rwamukore said.
Byansi Muhammad, the area councillor representing Nyamityobora ward regretted that the unfortunate incident happened during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“It is unfortunate our market has got burnt during a bad time of COVID-19 when people were no longer working as their businesses were all locked down,” Muhammad said.
Arson suspected
Several traders who spoke to theCooperator expressed their suspicion that the fire that destroyed their livelihoods was no accident.
Ketty Rukundo, who for the past eight years has operated a hotel in Nyamityobora market, told theCooperator that she learnt about the inferno by phone call early Saturday morning.
“It was around 5:00am when I was called by a colleague saying, ‘You are sleeping and yet the market is burning?’ By the time I reached there, I could not save anything- everything had been burned; I simply broke down,” Rukundo says.
Rukundo believes the fire was planned by some market leaders who had earlier suggested developing a standard Nyamityobora market, while Wilson Rwamukore, the market Chairperson, blamed the tragedy on “enemies of the market”.
“It was torched by some enemies of the market, but we shall wait for the police investigation report,” he said.
Councillor Byansi Muhammad was equally shocked by the timing of the fire outbreak.
“If the fire was from a charcoal stove, the market would have got burnt around 11pm. But now, with this fire of 5 am, we really don’t know,” Muhammad mused.
For his part, Lawrence Birungi, a trader whose posho store was torched in the conflagration, says the fire’s outbreak during curfew time makes it even more suspect.
“We leave the market at 6 pm because of the curfew, so we were are surprised to learn that the fire that destroyed our businesses started between 4-5 am when there are no boda bodas operating. Some of us think this fire was planned.”
The widely held suspicions of arson are fanned by the narrative of the fire’s genesis and progression provided by Brian Semanda, one of the security personnel at the market. According to him, the fire was set from different corners of the market.
“The fire started in the middle of the market, but by the time we got there, another side of the market had also started burning. This means the fire was intentionally set by some unknown people,” Semanda said.
Police response
ASP Samson Kasasira, the Rwizi regional police mouth piece, says the cause of the fire hasn’t been established yet but investigations are still ongoing.
However, many blamed the police for not acting fast enough to stop the fire, despite the market having Nyamityobora police post for a neighbour.
“How can our market get burnt from left, right, to centre, when there is a police station next door? So we blame the government because they didn’t offer any help until we made an alarm to the central police station. And even when they came, the fire van had no water and we had to put out the fire ourselves,” one Saidat Rukundo charged.
But Kasasira says the police had responded in time to save a significant part of the market.
“Today morning fire gutted Nyamityobora market. It is said to have started at 4 am, and our fire rescue team was able to respond and put out the fire, saving half of the market and the neighbouring structures,” he said.
Vendors trying to rescue some of their property in the fire
Nevertheless, he admitted that the police don’t have enough resources to man all the police units in order to cater for such disasters.
Appeal for restitution
One of the affected traders, Ketty Rukundo, appealed to government to support the traders to recover from the fire loss.
“We only recently resumed work, after the lock down, and this has happened. If government could help us to reconstruct our structures and pay our loans so that we can cater for our children, it would be a big help,” she said.
Others like Byansi Muhammad appealed to the president to come to the rescue of the vendors who were already affected by COVID-19.
“This is a double pandemic to the traders’ entire household income. I appeal the office of the disaster and preparedness to come and help them,” Muhammad said.
He adds that some of the traders had loans in different banks and requested that their payment be rescheduled,
“I don’t think these people will be able to clear in time; they should be added some time.”
Mbarara Deputy Town Clerk, Richard Mugisha says as the City Council they will deliberate and consider how best to help the traders.
“It would be premature for me to say what we as a council are going to do for the affected vendors, since this has just happened. We shall have a meeting on Monday with our political leaders, make an assessment of the extent of the damage, then come up with a clear plan on how to help them,” he told theCooperator in an interview, Saturday.
“But we also appeal to the other relevant central government offices especially the disaster management department to see how to come in and help our traders,” he added.
COVID-19 effect
Trader, Lawrence Birungi, says the COVID-19 restrictions on mobility had hampered traders’ ability to reach the market in time to save some of their property after they got news of the fire outbreak.
“Even if we wanted to rescue our property we were not allowed by police to move because of the curfew. Moreover, even bodabodas which are the easiest means of transport were stopped from carrying passengers because of COVID-19,” he lamented.
Some of the vendors looking on as the police extinguishes the fire.
In addition, Mugisha, says the COVID-19 restrictions have dampened business performance of the former Mbarara Municipality.
“Most of those businesses have not been paying our local revenue since they were not working, and up to now they are yet to get to full capacity because of social distancing and the curfew,” Mugisha explained.
He adds that levies on some businesses had to be slashed in response to the slowdown in business.
The Deputy Town Clerk says the market was especially affected because, prior to curfew, some traders used to operate up to midnight while markets like Nyamityobora that were known to operate for up to 24 hours are no longer working.
“COVID-19 affected our revenue levies substantially. As council, we estimated that the impact of COVID-19 on businesses was 80%, and therefore we reduced the payment for those which are still operating by an 80% margin as well.”
Disaster-proofing city structures
Mugisha says the new Mbarara Central region market has been installed with fire extinguishers to cater for such disasters in the future.
“Yes we have the fire mitigation measures already in place for the new central market construction,” he said.
However, he opined that such disastrous challenges sometimes emerge from reckless traders who don’t provide security for their businesses.
“Yes we can mitigate but the fire could have come from a candle or out of carelessness caused by some people within the market.”
Government has established a contingency plan for members that may lose their monies in Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs).
The latest safeguard has been established in form of a special Savings Protection Fund for SACCOs, with the aim of shielding members from unforeseen losses that usually arise out of management deficiencies or embezzlement tendencies in associations.
Established under the recently gazetted Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders (SACCO) regulations 2020, the fund provides for compensation of members of savings and credit organizations for loss of their savings.
The regulations that were signed by the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija, were finally gazetted on July 7, to fully operationalise the Tier 4 Microfinance Institutions and Money Lenders Act, 2016, which established the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA) as a licensing and supervisory agency for SACCOs.
According to the regulations, SACCOs are now required to contribute an annual premium of 0.5 percent of their annual savings to the Protection Fund, which will directly be managed by UMRA.
The regulations put in place penalties for SACCOs that fail to comply with the requirements. Under its mandate, the regulatory authority has can suspend licenses of any microfinance institution over noncompliance with the regulations.
The State Minister in Charge of Microfinance, Kyeyune Haruna Kasolo, explains that the fund is somewhat similar to the Deposits Protection Fund that protects deposits by a certain percentage of the monies they hold in the event a commercial bank becomes insolvent.
He says the contingency fund is part of a well thought-out approach to strengthen the microfinance sector in the country and build public trust in SACCOs which have proven their capacity to improve the livelihoods of local populations by offering them affordable credit.
In the recent past, thousands of depositors affiliating to the various SACCOs have suffered losses as result of dishonest managers disappearing with the institutions’ finances.
The minister indicates that the new law mandates the authority to directly supervise the institutions at any time, as a way of preventing such eventualities
The gazetting of the regulations according to UMRA has also outlawed the operations of any SACCOs, Money lenders and other non-deposit taking microfinance institutions without valid operations licenses renewable on an annual basis.
Among other salient aspects, the regulations also demand that SACCOs submit to the authority their monthly returns on capital adequacy and liquidity statements.
UMRA was established by an Act of Parliament in 2016 with the aim of promoting a sound and sustainable non-banking financial institution’s sector, to enhance financial inclusion, financial stability, and financial consumer protection among the lower income population of the country.
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Masindi Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Martin Mugabi, has given Masindi Sugarcane Growers Association Limited (MASGAL) and Kinyara Sugar management one week to sort out their grievances over the sugarcane price for this financial year.
This was during a mediation meeting between the two parties that the RDC called at his office on Tuesday this week to resolve the impasse between the parties.
The meeting came after MASGAL rejected the price of 91,586 shillings for a tonne of sugarcane that Kinyara Sugar announced for this financial year which MASGAL says was reached without consulting them.
On July 1, 2020, Kinyara Sugar Ltd issued a new cane price for the 2020/2021 financial year which would be Shs. 91,586 per ton of sugar cane sold by the out growers. This was a decline from the previous price of Shs 108,200 shillings per tonne in the last Financial Year.
Speaking to the cooperator news a after the closed meeting, RDC Mugabi revealed that during the meeting the parties agreed to continue dialoguing on the matter with the aim of arriving at a mutually agreeable price.
“Another meeting will be held next week during which the two parties are expected to reach a consensus. I however appeal for calm from the farmers as the parties dialogue to ensure peace and prosperity in the area”, said Mugabi.
The chairperson Masindi Sugar cane out Growers Association Limited (MASGAL), Cosmas Byaruhanga, said they are ready to dialogue with Kinyara over the matter.
“The farmers would not have protested the price that Kinyara announced without consulting them if it was on the higher side,” Byaruhanga said.
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The Masaka Farmers’ Cooperative Union is undertaking comprehensive restructuring aimed at resuscitating its coffee export potential.
Registered in 1951, the union was established to strengthen coffee farming and marketing in the greater Masaka sub region. In the 1980s it suffered immense losses as result of the political unrest that befell the country, losses for which the union is currently awaiting full compensation from the government.
TheCooperator has established that in the first two quarters on this financial year, government disbursed Shs 6.3 bn to Masaka Cooperative Union as part payment of the Shs 17.4 bn owed it.
The cash injection comes as a boon for the Union which is working towards reviving its glory in the coffee export business.
Emmanuel Ssenyonga, the Union’s General Manager says their aim is to resume and sustain the union’s coffee export business before this year ends.
The compensation monies received so far are being utilized to reestablish the Union’s strength and explore their business plans, according to Ssenyonga.
“We had earlier undertaken efforts to revive the unions by remobilizing our primary societies to boost their production capacities. When the government finally released part of the money, it came as complement to the efforts and plans we had started rolling out,” he noted.
In the meantime, the Union has stocked at least 13 tons of processed coffee which, Ssenyonga says, is lays a strong foundation for their coffee exports.
To this end, he adds, the Union has already ordered for modern coffee processing and grading machinery from Germany, to be installed in the union’s new factory structure currently under construction at Kijjabwemi zone at the outskirts of Masaka Municipality.
Lawrence Majwala, the Union’s Secretary says that the hi-tech machinery they acquired will facilitate production of high quality coffee and enable them meet international standards.
“We have so far paid 70 percent of the 1.4 billion shillings for the batch of the machinery which is already being shipped. In addition to this, there is another section of the dryer and a colour-sorter that will also be brought in to have a complete factory here,” Majwala said.
Before its disintegration in the mid 1980s, Masaka Coffee Cooperative Union was among the country’s main coffee exporters, generating substantial incomes that contributed to the union’s expansion and asset growth.
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