7/25/2019 Food Wastage: Farmers lose billions to post-harvest mishandling

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Uganda is largely anagricultural countryand also widelyreferred to as the foodbasket of the EastAfrican region. For

that, one would expect the citizens inevery corner of the country, to accessfood at low prices, in substantialamounts and in constant supply.

The World Food Summit of 1996defined food security as existingwhen all people at all t imes haveaccess to sufficient, safe andnutritious food to maintain a healthyand active life. Commonly, foodsecurity is defined as both physical

and financial access to food thatmeets peoples dietary needs as wellas preferences.

However, a considerable numberof people go hungry. A recentreport by the Food and AgriculturalOrganisation (FAO) put the figureof Ugandans going hungry at 23million; implying that about 67% ofthe population is food insecure.

Basing on the above findings,Uganda, along with other countriesin sub-Saharan Africa, have a highmountain to climb in a bid to ensurea sustainable food safety net for thecitizenry.

Many factors contribute to foodscarcity. These include climate andpolitical instability, rural-urbanmigration, pests, fertility issues, lack

of insight and planning. There aresome practices, such as food wastagethat seem trivial, but hamper foodavailability. Food wastage is commonin market places, storage areas anddumping sites. And, it seems to beignored.A study carried out by the Uganda

Co-operative Alliance (UCA) andUganda National Farmers Federation(UNFFE) around 2014, found that thegrain-producing districts of Mubende

and Masindi were registering morethan sh16b in post-harvest lossesevery year! This wasted food wouldmake a huge difference in thefamilies of many Ugandans.

FOOD LOSS PATTERNSFood loss is also food waste. It refersto food that is ready-to-eat, but getsdiscarded or lost at or during thestages of production, processing,retailing and consumption.

Augustine Mwendya, the chiefexecutive secretary and agribusinessmanager of UNFFE, says a studyon maize revealed that seed lossescan go up to 12%, mostly due toprolonged field drying and lateharvests.

The study revealed that duringfarm drying, losses of about 6% canoccur in the partial storage of maize,while about 2-3% can be lost duringshelling and cleaning, he said.

He adds that during transportationwithin and off the farm, farmerslose about 2% of their grain and anadditional 6% loss is incurred duringstorage that spans between three and

six months due to insect pests androdents, since most farmers l ack boththe knowledge and financial capacityto safely store their produce.

REASONS FOR FOOD LOSSAmon Baluku, a farmer andagribusiness officer at Kasese DistrictFarmers Association, says post-harvest food losses are incurred inseveral ways.

For example, with maize, somefarmers make losses because of poorharvesting methods. Many destroythe grains in the process of cuttingthe maize stalks during harvestand this eventually leads to lossesbecause such grains are not acceptedon the market, he says.

Poor handling of produce during

and after harvest is another causfood loss, he says.

Most farmers use sacks to motheir produce. Some of those sacare either dirty or punctured andgrains seep out in the process, explains.

David Katende, the Masindi DFarmers Association co-ordinatosays farmers in his district makelosses unknowingly.

After plucking the maize cob, throw it on a heap of the other mcobs. In the process, it shells off seeds which are left in the gardehe explains.

Katende also blames Masindis

rainy seasons.We plant the maize in Marchand harvest it between August aSeptember, but if a f armer delayto harvest even by just a few daythe second rains come in and wasoaks the maize, he explains.

Francis Bigyemano, a maize farin Kakiri, Wakiso district, also dethe unpredictable weather chang

I have lost produce whileharvesting because it rains whenleast expect it. I have not built goshelter in the garden. Some of thharvested grain rot away after besoaked, he says. Last season, I about 300kg of maize to a heavydownpour that came in the middthe harvest, Bigyemano adds.

Godfrey Bitakaramire, the

THE BIG STORYwww.newvision.co.ug

14Sunday VISION, June 26, 2016

Food wastage: Farmers lose billions toLOSSES OF UP TO 100% ARE POSSIBLE ON PERISHABLES, BU

Food waste andloss, togetherdefined as foodwastage, ispartly blamedfor the causesof malnutritionand food

insecurity inUganda. TheKaramoja regionstands tall inregard to thisdebacle afterrecently beinghit by famine,Ronald Mugabewrites

A garbage dump at Nakasero Market in Kampala. Sometimes the rubbish contains good produce that the vendors have failed to sell on a given day

With rudimentary transport methods, there are delays in getting produce tothe markets which, increases losses

7/25/2019 Food Wastage: Farmers lose billions to post-harvest mishandling

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THE BIG STORYwww.newvision.co.ug Sunday VISION, June 26,

post-harvest mishandlingWORLDBANK STUDYMOST FARMERS LOSE UP TO ABOUT 60%

Godfrey Bitakaramire, the Sembabule District Farmers Associationco-ordinator, recommends that the Government should embarkon capacity-building programmes to enhance farmers knowledgeof safer post-harvest handling mechanisms in a bid to controlfood losses. Many farmers lose their produce because they lackknowledge on how to handle their harvest. Some do not know howto keep their maize, millet, beans and other dry foods in ways thatprotect them from getting moist, he explains.

He adds that value addition interventions should be made; mostlyto help small-scale farmers since they are unable to save theirproduce when disaster strikes in form of harsh weather, pests and alack of ready market.

For instance, the Government should consider giving solar dryersto local banana farmers, at least at sub-county level, so that theirproduce can have a longer shelf life and attract higher prices, headvises.

Bitakaramire also recommends contract farming: Contract farminghelps farmers have a stronger hand in price determination and alsoassures them of a ready market.

INTERVENTIONS

Sembabule District FarmersAssociation co-ordinator, says thedistrict seed losses are largely due totransport-related challenges broughtabout by bad roads.

The major food crops inSembabule are bananas, maize,cassava and beans. Banana qualityis affected during transportationbecause village roads are in a badstate. By the time they reach themarkets, they are shattered, henceattracting low prices, he says.

LOSSES ON FOOD

Immaculate Niwagaba, a fruitsdealer in Nakawa Market, reveals

that making losses on her fruits issomething she has got accustomed tobecause she cannot find a sure wayof preventing this from happening.

Sometimes, they are destroyedduring transportation. The otherreason is that if you do not getbuyers, fruits rot, she explains.

Niwagaba says they resort to fruitsalads and sell them at a cheaperprice, but still, incur losses.

Prossy Arach, a vegetable dealer inBugolobi Market, says she sometimesbuys a box of tomatoes at aboutsh200,000, but discovers that halfof them are spoilt before she cansell them. She says it is the same foronions, carrots and green pepper.

Mwendya explains that losses of upto 100% are possible on perishables,

20MILLION

TONNES OF FOODLOST ANNUALLY

but most farmerslose up to around60%.

If a farmeris transportingperishables suchas tomatoes underharsh weatherconditions andtheir vehicle breaksdown before theyreach the market, ifhe is unable to getquick alternative means of transport,all the produce will be lost, heexplains. Mwendya adds that oneof the biggest challenges Ugandan

farmers face is the lack of valueaddition mechanisms for severalfood crops such as matooke.

We largely eat matooke in its freshform. If there is no ready market,farmers have nothing to do as theirfood ripens or rots away becausethey have no means of extending itsshelf life, he says.

20 MILLION TONNES LOST

According to the World FoodProgramme country director, MichaelDunford, post-harvest food lossis one of the largest contributingfactors to food insecurity andunder-nutrition across sub-Saharan

Africa, directly impacting the livesof millions of smallholder farmingfamilies.

Due toinadequatehandling andstorage practicesat the householdlevel, withinthe first threemonths afterharvest, farmerslose up to 40%of their harvestto insects, pestsand moisture, he

explains.The sub-Saharan Africa losses

represent more than 20 millionmetric tonnes of grain, valued at over

$4b annually. This is enough to meetthe food needs of an additional 48million people, he adds.

Dunford says all crops are naturallysubject to biological deterioration,but the rate of deterioration is highlyinfluenced by factors ranging fromindividual farming practices to thechain of inter-dependent activitiesbetween harvest and delivery of foodto consumers.

GOVERNMENT SPEAKS OUT

Okasai Opolot, the director cropresources at the Ministry of

Agriculture, Animal Industry andFisheries, explains that lack of goodstorage facilities, poor threshing andshelling methods; as well as the lackof readily-available market are the

key contributing factors to post-harvest food losses in Uganda.

He, however, recommendsthat this could be curbed at thegrassroots level through farmerscoming together in groups; amove he says would enable themestablish communal post-harvesthandling infrastructures, valueaddition facilities and also astronger bargaining power to earna reasonable income from theirproduce.

For instance, grouping up wouldenable farmers construct concretecrop drying spaces, so as to keeptheir produce in good quality unlike

what many do now. Most of them drycrops such as maize on bare dustyground, which kills the quality. Moreso, when you drive along TirinyiRoad, you notice that farmers drytheir cassava on the roadside tarmac.If they unite, they would build aconcrete communal drying spacewhich would keep their produce safeand also prevent them from possibleaccidents on the road, he explains.

Opolot adds that forminggroups would also help farmingcommunities afford value additionfacilities. But as a ministry, Opolotreveals that they have taken strongersteps to curb post-harvest food loss.

We have done some research onlocal granaries and silos; especiallyat Kawanda Agricultural Research

Institute. We have also developeprogrammes to demonstrate tofarmers how such technologies aused, he says.

We are also providing a subsito enable farmers to accesstechnologies like plastic and mesilos, as well as Hematic grainstorage bags instead of using oldmethods of storage. We are alreademonstrating these in districtssuch as Serere, Soroti, Amuria,among other main grain-producdistricts. We also set up 600 metonnes grain storage silos in GulKapchorwa and Kasese; amongseveral more districts, he adds.

Okasai also reveals that the miis encouraging the private sectorset up warehouses. At the momwe have storage facilities of abou5,000 metric tonnes established the private sector. There are twoin Mubende district, Mityana anone established by the army inNakaseke, he explains.

In Masindi, we are partneringwith the Joseph Initiative, which empowering the farming commuto increase productivity by givinthem agricultural inputs, fertilisearea for drying maize, among otextension services, Opolot adds

This story was donesupport from the African Ce

for Media Excel

In 2011, the World Bank, in association with theFood and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), releasean industry study in which they described foodlosses along the chain of harvesting, drying,threshing, storage, transportation, and marketin

Inefficient post-harvest handling andmanagement practices across this value chainexpose crops to contamination by micro-organisms, chemicals, excessive moisture,fluctuating temperature and mechanical damageThese all greatly contribute to food losses, WorlFood Programme country director, Michael Dunfosays.

He adds that proper handling and storage of grcan prevent aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxins acommon, naturally occurring fungal toxins whichpose a risk of cancer.

Dunford reveals that WFP is determined to helpcurb these losses.

We are working to reduce post-harvest food loat two levels; the household (farmer households)and at community level (farmer groups), aiming tassist 60,000 farmers in 2016. The programme iimplemented in 35 districts, he says.

At both levels, WFP sponsors training in post-harvest handling, farming as a business, agronomnutrition and management of savings and loanassociations at the household level, as well as in

group dynamics, stores management and markelinkages at community level, he adds.WFP provides subsidised infrastructure to

the trained farmers at both the levels. At thehousehold level, it provides airtight silos (metal,plastic, bags) on a cost-sharing basis (WFP payshalf the price). At the community level, WFPprovides grain stores, commercial grain-processequipment at private sector warehouses andfeeder roads.

The superior storage infrastructure enablessmallholder farmers to store their grain until thenext harvest. This means they no longer need toimmediately sell at harvest, often at low prices,only to buy food at much higher prices during thlean season.

Dunford reveals that last year, an evaluationsurvey conducted in co-ordination with theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) andMakerere University showed that the adoption ofnew post-harvest management techniques, as was the superior storage facilities at household le

reduced post-harvest losses by 98% compared ttraditional storage practices and granaries.Poorly stored cassava means most of it goes to waste

Many perishables, such as matooke and tomatoes, rot duringtransportation on poor roads and long distances to markets

PHOTOS BY DENIS DIBELE