Sorghum growers to get loan support from brewery

Sep 22, 2009

NILE Breweries Limited (NBL) has encouraged epuripur (sorghum) farmers to form groups so they can be helped to get loans from financial institutions.

By James Odomel

NILE Breweries Limited (NBL) has encouraged epuripur (sorghum) farmers to form groups so they can be helped to get loans from financial institutions.

“NBL is willing to become a guarantor to organised groups of farmers who want to access loans to purchase tractors and bird guns to improve the quality and quantity of their yields,” Onapito Ekomoloit, the breweries’ corporate affairs director, said last week.

NBL uses sorghum to make Eagle Extra and Eagle Lager beer, the low-priced non-malt beer brands popular among rural people.

Epuripur is a genetically improved sorghum variety bred at Serere Agriculture and Animal Research Institute (SAARI).

The sorghum is adaptable to local conditions, matures early, is drought resistant and yields three times more than the local varieties.

Addressing farmers at a field tour of Kachumbala in Bukedea district, Ekomoloit said the epuripur project, launched in 2002, is an excellent example of a successful partnership between a large manufacturer and small-scale producers.

The Eagle Project involves the cultivation and commercial harvesting of epuripur for producing low cost, high quality beer.

The project ensures a cycle of sustainability for all partners. The brewery provides both a good price and a guaranteed market for epuripur grown across Uganda, which has enabled farmers to significantly improve their livelihoods.

Currently, a kilo of sorghum goes for about sh450 which means, the more the harvest from the farmer, the more money he gets.

“This was a cattle and cotton area initially, but when they collapsed, Nile breweries came up with the sorghum initiative,” he added.

Epuripur growing has spread across eastern, northern and mid-western Uganda with atleast every homestead engaging in the activity.

Alex Isiagi, a farmer, said without the sorghum he would not have been able to take his children to school and build himself a permanent structure.

“With guaranteed market and availability of high quality seeds from the breweries what else would I say except long live Nile breweries?” Isiagi said.

“Its unbelievable, I can afford to sleep in a permanent house now,” he added.

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