ABOUT BANA BARETON
We add value to maize grain for human consumption to scale up high-impact nutrition and reduce national micronutrient deficiency.
BACKGROUND
Maize Flour is the most consumed food in Uganda (consumed by 92% of the households) with a per capita consumption of 28kg per year and providing over forty percent of a Ugandan’s daily calorie consumption. Grown in every part of the country, maize is an important staple food for human nutrition in Uganda.
However, most maize farmers live on less than $2 per day. Small scale farmers who constitute the bulk (80%) of the rural poor account for the largest share of maize production. It is a direct source of livelihood to over 2 million households, over 1,000 traders and over 600 millers (NAADS 2021.) Increasing income of the smallholder farmers has not only the potential to lift millions of people out of extreme poverty but also to sustainably maintain the maize farming practice.
Farmers sell them directly after harvest, when cash is needed for daily expenses in the post-harvest period. This is also when market prices are lowest. Maize farmers’ incomes are often reduced by improper post-harvest handling and hardly any value addition on their grain. The result is a loss of potential income and food insecurity. The farmers could store their grain until prices increase; however, this is risky too. Pests and mold cause losses of up to 50% due to storage of grain with high moisture content and exposure of the grain to dust during the drying process. Because of this risk, farmers have added pressure to sell prematurely.
Small holder farmers also suffer from unreliable markets. There are long distances from farm areas to marketplaces, but farmers are also ignorant of market trends and opportunities. As such, middlemen take advantage to consolidate grain on farms and manipulate the market to their advantage. As a result, farmers cannot earn decently from their work resulting in high poverty levels, poor health and livelihoods, food insecurity, inability to access quality social services like health and education among other direct and indirect effects of poverty amongst the small holder farmers.