Farmer incomes in Tororo have received a boost through the use of collective marketing and bulking of produce, which allows them to negotiate better prices.
According to Terencio Otwani, the chairperson of Nyalakot Farmers group, this process has not only increased the group’s income to the level of building a bulking centre but has also resulted in more family income for member farmers.
“For the past three years, we have seen increased income to our group and to individual farmers,” Otwani explains. “We now even have buyers from as far as Kenya and Mbale coming to book our harvest…”
The group, located in Osukuru sub-county, Tororo district, majorly grows soy beans, rice and maize. They bulk post-harvest at their bulking centre constructed with the help of Sasakawa Global 2000, a farmer-support organisation working with government to improve farming practices, and then sell when the prices are at their highest.
The advantage of retained income allows the group to fix prices for their produce. According to Rosette Kemigisha Bakunda, a program officer with Sasakawa, the farmers have reliably grown their incomes, not only through hard work but also through financial literacy practices and a robust village savings and loans association.
“We have trained over 700 farmer groups through the country in better farmer practices, post-harvest handling, value addition but also in financial literacy and supported them create a savings and credit scheme, which they run on their own.”
As a result, Sasakawa was able to loan the group more than Shs 13 million, which they invested in growing more rice by leasing larger chunks of land, leading to a bigger harvest. The group was able to pay back the loan within a year, having made over Shs 8 million in profit, which they have invested in a larger farmland and a bulking centre.
Maize and rice are some of the food crops produced by Nyakalot Farmers Group, which are highly consumed by the domestic market but are also exported to the neighbouring markets of Kenya and South Sudan.
Collective marketing, bulking and occasional value addition have demonstrated that farmers can sell their produce at the best market prices, at the highest market peak and the proceeds reinvested into even more farming.
“We have seen entire communities grow since higher incomes lead to attendant demand for agro inputs like seeds and fertilizers as well as services like agronomy and transport,” says Dr Roselline Nyamutale, the country director of Sasakawa Global 200.
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