Poor storage kills cassava market in Teso

Jul 17, 2013

Experts have noted that cassava storage among in eastern Uganda is below the required international standards that farmers are unable to sell it abroad.About 64% of farmers store cassava in their houses instead of stores. When ground, the cassava is of poor quality.

By Godfrey OJore

Experts have noted that cassava storage among in eastern Uganda is below the required international standards that farmers are unable to sell it abroad.

About 64% of farmers store cassava in their houses instead of stores. When ground, the cassava is of poor quality.

It is for this reason that the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has started training Teso farmers in cassava and potato handling.

“Cassava farming is profitable but Teso region, which is the leading producer of cassava, is wallowing in poverty because farmers are not meeting the required standards,” said David Eboku, the UNBS standards manager.

Addressing farmers in Soroti recently, Eboku said farmers in Teso need to comply with the East African cassava standards.

The standards body is implementing a sevenmonth project called ‘Enhancing adoption of harmonised cassava and potato standards in Eastern and Central Africa’.

The project aims at strengthening capacity of value chain actors in the application of harmonised standards and increased effectiveness of monitoring and regulation of compliance standards.

“The market is available internationally and if farmers adopt the standards they would be in position to rip big,” said Stella Apolot, the coordinator of regional and international standards at UNBS.

Cassava flour and dry chips should be stored in plastic containers, clean polypropylene bags or aluminum containers that are covered and are of food grade, according to the current regulations.

“It is common for farmers to dry cassava on the ground,” Eboku noted.

He said there is ready market for dry and raw cassava in factories that manufacture biscuits.

 

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});