Semuto farmers pass bylaw on maize standards

By Eddie Ssejjoba

LEADERS in Ssemuto Sub County in Nakaseke district have passed a bylaw to implement maize standards set up by the East African Community as one of the strategies to improve quality of their produce.

New standards are also hoped to enable the farmers to compete favorably in the regional market.

The bylaw emphasizes proper drying of maize, harvesting mature crops and confiscation of immature produce found with producers or traders, burn of fields found to have been sprayed with harmful chemicals. No farmer will be allowed to use other means of drying maize faster.

The local leaders were concerned that crop farmers were losing out on the regional markets because their maize could not match the standards required and therefore did not find buyers from the regional markets.

This followed consultative meetings organized by the Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) with business communities and farmers who discussed how to meet the maize standards.

The meetings were intended to find ways of finding how best they can access the regional markets and compete favorably under a project titled, ‘Upgrading quality standards in agriculture for Uganda maize and sesame’.   

Most maize producers in the district complained for not reaping from existing opportunities such as the Common Market, which is attributed to poor quality maize.

Most of the maize grown in the area does not meet the EAC maize standards, which limits Uganda's competitiveness in the regional agro markets.

The area Local Council Chairman Henry Nswemu said once approved by the district council, the bylaw will mandate local councils to burn fields where immature maize has been slashed to dry on the ground and to penalize farmers without granaries.

He said the bylaw has been forwarded to District Council for approval before it is passed into an ordinance for the whole district.

SEATINI Country Director Jane Nalunga said that despite the country's high agricultural production potential, the exports were still low, which she attributed to failure to adhere to market requirements.

She explained that low standards in the past had led to the rejection of Uganda's maize by other EAC countries, citing case in 2013 when Tanzania rejected over 1000 Metric Tons of maize from Uganda on conditions that it was of poor quality.

The 18-month project focuses on improving quality of maize and sesame for better access to the wider EAC market through creating awareness on the standards, capacity building and policy advocacy through which value chain actors will be able to engage on applicability of the maize standard and on developing a standard for Sesame.

The project targets all actors along the value chains as well as policy makers at local, national and regional levels in the areas of trade, health, agriculture and EAC affairs.

Nalunga stressed that the project will help the farmers to utilize opportunities in accessing the EAC market and improving their incomes, hence trading their way out of poverty.