FARMERS growing potatoes and Sorghum in South Western Uganda have got a reason to smile after their long awaited prayer for value addition has been answered by Makerere University Researchers. The team of Researchers headed by the Dean School of Agricultural Sciences Prof. Johnny Mugisha came up with a project titled: Enhancing Value addition on Potato-Sorghum enterprises for Improved Livelihoods in Uganda (EVaPoSIL).
The six months’ project which was implemented in South Western Uganda focused on enhancing the physical, economic and nutrition value of potato (Solanum tuberlosum) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolar) in Uganda.
While presenting the research finding on Tuesday 15th December 2020 at Makerere University Senate Building, Prof. Mugisha stressed that Potato and sorghum are the South-Western region’s main enterprises. He however said that whereas these crops compete for farm resources, they are neither substitutes nor complements in terms of household food.
“Sorghum occupies a large portion of farm land but is among the lowest yielding with 1.4 Metric Tons per hectare according to statistics from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics of 2010 and lowest profitable crops.
The variety grown (sweet) he said has high socio-cultural value among the population with limited use for local drinks – bushera and muramba and no industrial use.
“Similarly, in potatoes, value addition is largely limited to consumption of fresh tubers with 92.6% as boiled potato, “he said.
This crop, he said, has been registering a declining productivity from 7.0 Metric tons per hectare in 2007 to 4.2 in 2017
Furthermore, 30-40% of the output is small, non-marketable tubers causing a loss of US$13.7–18.3 million per annum and yet potato and sorghum are potential pathways for enhancing household incomes
He emphasized that Food and Nutrition security in South-Western Uganda is characterized by land scarcity, decreasing agricultural productivity, high post-harvest losses and low per-capita income.
This project he said aims at enhancing the value of both crops by innovative value addition that makes them complements, reduce harvest losses, increase incomes, and make available to consumers a diversity of high quality high value products.
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