Fighting hunger with the traditional granary
A granary was the poor man’s food store and setting up one did not cost a fortune. All a farmer needed was to find some grass for the roof and poles to support it. To make the walls, one only needed to make some mud.
By Joel Ogwang
A granary was the poor man’s food store and setting up one did not cost a fortune. All a farmer needed was to find some grass for the roof and poles to support it. To make the walls, one only needed to make some mud.
In appearance, it looked like a small mud-and-wattle house. The only difference was its spherical and removable roof, akin to a kettle lid. A farmer opened it and climbed into it to either store or remove the harvest.
Granaries mainly stored quality seeds kept from previous harvests as well as the surplus produce. “The seeds were stored for future planting. We also kept dried food like maize and beans in them,†recalls Johnson Okello, a farmer.
Granaries disappearing
However, granaries are fast disappearing. Why? Agriculture not employing as many people as it used to in the past, could be one of the problems.
“Some people think farming is no longer productive. People, especially the youth, are selling their land to buy motorcycles for boda boda (motorcycle taxis),†says Herbert Kayizzi, a farmer in Kyampisi sub-county, Mukono.
With urbanisation spreading like wild fire, the youth are abandoning agriculture for employment in urban centres. Food security is, therefore, no longer guaranteed.
Farmers losing out
Data from USAID shows that out of the estimated 500,000-750,000 metric tonnes of maize produced in Uganda annually, about 15% is lost during harvest.
Many farmers sell their produce cheaply due to spoilage because they lack storage facilities after harvest. To prevent thse post-harvest losses, it is imperative to keep moisture content at between 12% and 15% to protect grains from insects and rodents.
Granaries help reduce this loss by keeping the farm produce safe from rodents and insects, and ensure quality seeds.
New granaries gaining ground
Kayizzi earns over sh20m from farming. He deals in coffee, beans, maize, bananas and vanilla. Kayizzi built a simple inter-locking stability soil (ISB) granary in his backyard.
“It did not cost me much. I only bought iron sheets and used poles from my garden,†he says. To build the ISB granary, one needs bricks made by mixing soil, water and a small amount of cement.
Dr. Moses Musaazi, a senior lecturer at Makerere University and the founder of the ISB granary technology, says: “A farmer can have this granary constructed for them by an expert or they can construct it themselves.â€
Government support
To fight food insecurity, the Government is going back to the basics. With the Food and Nutrition Bill recently tabled before Parliament, the Government intends to put in place a policy to tackle food security by reviving traditional granaries and silos.
“Farmers will be compelled to have granaries for food storage. We are also coming up with cocoons that will store dried produce. A single cocoon will have the capacity to store between 500kg to three metric-tonnes of food,†says Aggrey Bagiire, the agriculture state minister.
With experts predicting hunger in the future, it is not late for Ugandans to go back to basics by erecting granaries because they are a cheap way of storing food for future consumption.
A granary was the poor man’s food store and setting up one did not cost a fortune. All a farmer needed was to find some grass for the roof and poles to support it. To make the walls, one only needed to make some mud.
In appearance, it looked like a small mud-and-wattle house. The only difference was its spherical and removable roof, akin to a kettle lid. A farmer opened it and climbed into it to either store or remove the harvest.
Granaries mainly stored quality seeds kept from previous harvests as well as the surplus produce. “The seeds were stored for future planting. We also kept dried food like maize and beans in them,†recalls Johnson Okello, a farmer.
Granaries disappearing
However, granaries are fast disappearing. Why? Agriculture not employing as many people as it used to in the past, could be one of the problems.
“Some people think farming is no longer productive. People, especially the youth, are selling their land to buy motorcycles for boda boda (motorcycle taxis),†says Herbert Kayizzi, a farmer in Kyampisi sub-county, Mukono.
With urbanisation spreading like wild fire, the youth are abandoning agriculture for employment in urban centres. Food security is, therefore, no longer guaranteed.
Farmers losing out
Data from USAID shows that out of the estimated 500,000-750,000 metric tonnes of maize produced in Uganda annually, about 15% is lost during harvest.
Many farmers sell their produce cheaply due to spoilage because they lack storage facilities after harvest. To prevent thse post-harvest losses, it is imperative to keep moisture content at between 12% and 15% to protect grains from insects and rodents.
Granaries help reduce this loss by keeping the farm produce safe from rodents and insects, and ensure quality seeds.
New granaries gaining ground
Kayizzi earns over sh20m from farming. He deals in coffee, beans, maize, bananas and vanilla. Kayizzi built a simple inter-locking stability soil (ISB) granary in his backyard.
“It did not cost me much. I only bought iron sheets and used poles from my garden,†he says. To build the ISB granary, one needs bricks made by mixing soil, water and a small amount of cement.
Dr. Moses Musaazi, a senior lecturer at Makerere University and the founder of the ISB granary technology, says: “A farmer can have this granary constructed for them by an expert or they can construct it themselves.â€
Government support
To fight food insecurity, the Government is going back to the basics. With the Food and Nutrition Bill recently tabled before Parliament, the Government intends to put in place a policy to tackle food security by reviving traditional granaries and silos.
“Farmers will be compelled to have granaries for food storage. We are also coming up with cocoons that will store dried produce. A single cocoon will have the capacity to store between 500kg to three metric-tonnes of food,†says Aggrey Bagiire, the agriculture state minister.
With experts predicting hunger in the future, it is not late for Ugandans to go back to basics by erecting granaries because they are a cheap way of storing food for future consumption.