Let’s buy peeled matooke from factories

SIR— I am writing to supplement Mr A.D. Ssozi’s letter to the editor in The New Vision, December 31 under the title, “Did you know there is a money mint in matooke?”
I am suggesting that this matooke peeling industry may not require a big investor to come from America but Ugandan farmers themselves; if given a chance, I am sure they can do this. The farmers only need to get organised into groups, associations, cooperatives or fora. Consider NAADS proposal of organising farmers into fora. We also need to invite craftsmen from India, China or even Katwe to come here and study the modernity that can best suit the type of job.
In my opinion, the size of the machinery can be the size of a crate of soda. It could be manual or motorised.
We also need pack houses scattered around the banana growing districts. These will handle the parish village produce, grade and pack it in vacuum packets/bags similar to those of ultra-heated milk. These packets can be of size 1kg to 100kg. Here, at the pack house, we need cold rooms to preserve the quality. (PMA can come in here and provide the funding). Technical staff can be employed to assist the farmers. From the pack centres matooke/lumonde can be ferried to the urban centres for both open and supermarkets. Because the products are in ultra-bags, they can keep wholesome and be accessed at ease and at every place for a period of six months or so.
I am also suggesting that for quality control, the place of origin, the batch number and expiring date be indicated on the package. This answers the President’s New Year’s message to the nation: “strategic challenges still dodge Ugandans.”

David Kavuma Mutesasira
Mubende