Best farmer constructs honey factory

Jul 23, 2020

Anyii has also constructed four fishponds and stocked with 9,000 fingerlings, built a poultry unit, and increased the number of out-growers for the apiary.

AGRIBUSINESS

Tom Anyii, a prominent farmer and one of the best farmers in 2017 best farmer competition, has constructed a honey processing factory and added two more enterprises.

Anyii`s farm is located at Telela village, Ngetta sub-county in Lira district. Organised by Vision Group, the best farmers competition is sponsored by the Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, dfcu Bank and Koudjis Nutrition BV. 

Anyii has also constructed four fishponds and stocked with 9,000 fingerlings, built a poultry unit, and increased the number of out-growers for the apiary.

The former civil servant has unquestionable skills in beekeeping. "I trained 2,500 farmers in Lango, Acholi and Karamoja in beekeeping as a business and post-harvest handling," he said.

With the current lockdown, Anyii takes most of his valuable time supervising the farm and fixing things right.

"I never had time to supervise because of the tied schedules to meeting farmers but with the current situation am trying to put some of the things right," Anyii said.        

At the farm, Anyii has also built a dormitory to accommodate farmers who would come to acquire skills in enterprise selection and farming as a business.

Anyii  with his chickens
Anyii with his chickens



Anyii was the second runner-up in the 2017 Vision Group Competition sponsored by DFCU Bank, KLM Airlines, Koudjis Nutrition BV and Netherlands Embassy. At the poultry units, Anyii has 1,000 birds both kroilers and local birds.

Taf Honey processing factory has a weighing room, storage section, processing units, changing room and storage room for finished products.

"I have trained out-growers in Northern Uganda and part of Karamoja on beekeeping as a business, proper harvest handling, and group dynamics," Anyii said.

"The main purposes are to create employment among youth, increase honey production and ready market for beekeepers in the sub-region," he added.  The factory according to Anyii will start operation in March 2020.

Anyii said they have trained 25 youth on quality assurance and will act as Taf Bee agents since the factory has a capacity to store 20 tons of honey.

Fish farming

After he returned from a week-long tour of Netherlands, Anyii started diversifying the farm by constructing four fishponds stocked with tilapia and catfish (Taf Agri-tourism farm). The fishpond is located just a kilometer from the main farm.

"We want to create an environment to attract tourists, improve on income and employment," he said at the farm.    

"We are also creating a learning environment for students and farmers," he added.    

The district production coordinator, Thomas Okello commended Anyii for setting up his model farm saying farmers should visit the farm and learn more.


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