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Business
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Written by Moses Talemwa
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Wednesday, 25 November 2009 19:43 |
Bright Rwamirama, the Minister of State for Animal Industry, has given the new 10-member Board of Directors governing the dairy sector its first and most crucial assignment: deal with the problem of farmers getting a raw deal when selling their milk.
To succeed, the board will have to address one of the sector’s most daunting challenges. A background check on the board members indicates a team that has a firsthand experience on the task at hand. All, except one, have a farming background. Bernadette Katureebe chairs the board, with Dr. Nathan Twinamasiko, the Dairy Development Authority Executive Director as Member and DDA Finance Manager, James Nasimolo, as Secretary.
The Uganda Veterinary Association is represented by Dr. Alice Banga, while the Agriculture Ministry has Dr. George Ocochi as representative. Prominent farmers: Anthony Wasswa, Gertrude Muyiggwa, Jehoash Sendege, Dr. Acana Okwir and Dr. Bernard Niwagaba, make the rest of the board.
Addressing the board, Bright Rwamirama, the Minister of State for Animal Industry, called on the members to swiftly act on the problem of farmers being ripped off by those who buy their milk.
“If you see the farm-gate price of Shs 350 a litre and what consumers pay for the same milk in the supermarket (Shs 1,600), you realise that farmers need to be empowered to get more from their product,” he said.
He added: “The monopoly of these processors is going to kill us. A bottle of water is more expensive than a litre of milk, so we need to help the farmers add value to their product so they can get more from their labour.”
Rwamirama called on the board to find new ways to encourage farmers in the rural areas to expand their operations so that they can be able to process their milk, instead of selling it in raw form, for a song.
This new resolve on the part of the minister and the dairy board might force the two main milk processors, Sameer and Jesa, to reconsider their business strategies.
The two have increased their prices over the last six months on grounds that milk supply had dropped. But the DDA accuses them of manipulating the market for profit. Twinamasiko recently accused Sameer of closing down milk collection centres in Western Uganda without warning, after realising more supply than they could process, leaving farmers stranded.
“Farmers don’t want to deal with an inconsistent buyer since their cows produce milk all the time they are in lactation, whether the plant has problems or not,” Twinamasiko said.
Rwamirama urged the board to encourage farmers to pool their resources and acquire milk processing machines of their own as the government had relaxed taxes on this equipment to spur growth in the sector.
According to Bernadette Katureebe, the new chairperson, the board has also been tasked to double milk production from the present three million litres per day, and also increase the installed processing capacity from just under 560,000 litres per day to over one million litres a day.
Katureebe says the board and DDA plan to train farmers across the country to grow enough feeds for cattle in the wet season and raise hay and silage for the dry season in a bid to maintain a near constant milk supply across the year.
“It is a hard task but we are committed to start on it immediately,” she declared.
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