By Ian Ortega
I recently watched a video where a Ugandan maize farmer was complaining about the prices of maize grain. He implied that those who’d sent them to grow maize had sold them a lie. I figured it would be important to do some farmer education.
First of all, the farmer confused two things – the maize he’d planted, what he’d harvested and the price he was to fetch from the harvest.
The Planting Dilemma
According to Ministry of Agriculture, a Ugandan farmer needs about 10 to 12 kilograms of maize seed to plant one acre. Maize productivity in Uganda is low. For an average farmer in Uganda, an acre will give them about 700 kilograms of maize grain at harvest. This is because most farmers don’t use improved seeds and apply minimal fertilizer.
Uganda has some of the least fertilizer application in the world according to a study by Economic Policy Research Centre, with annual fertilizer usage at just about 0.4kg of nutrient per acre per year. Again, this is explained by cost of fertilizer, poor quality and counterfeit fertilizer on the market.
Thus, from the time the farmer plants the maize seeds, own goals have already been scored, bad seed, low fertilizer use.
The Post-Harvest Dilemma
So now, let’s assume the farmer succeeds and gets 700 kilograms of maize grain. They contend with a new issue – lack of appropriate drying technology. Most farmers dry maize on open ground, and have to rely on the sunshine.
It’s at this point where Ugandan maize quality rapidly deteriorates. Because the sun is never sufficient, the weather fluctuates, farmers spent up to 2 weeks drying the same batch of maize. Thus, you do not have a consistent batch. Some portions will be well-dried, and others poorly dried. During these moments, the maize is stored in poor conditions, the maize is stored directly on the ground.
The end result is that Ugandan maize gets spikes in Aflatoxin, on top of diseases/shrivelled grains. Ugandan maize ranges between 34 to 126 parts per billion of aflatoxin. For starters, aflatoxin is a poisonous chemical produced by fungi that grow on the germ of the maize grain. Aflatoxin is a carcinogen accounting for many cancer cases in the country.
Thus, because of the low quality of the farmer’s maize, it can’t fetch a premium price. Millers such as Mandela Millers that are committed to high quality standards will reject such maize as it exceeds the maximum aflatoxin levels allowed by World Health Organization standards.
Such a farmer will be frustrated. Unfortunately, although the world class miller has rejected this maize grain, this farmer may end up taking it to a less stringent small-scale miller. From this maize, there will be flour and there will be bran. The poultry or animals that eat this bran will end up with this aflatoxin, and in the end, so will the consumer who eats these eggs or meat. The flour too will have the aflatoxin. The staple diet in most schools is maize flour, thus, an early exposure to aflatoxin for the school population.
How do we Overcome This Dilemma?
I argue that we must adopt the concept of “Quality at Source”. The Ugandan farmer is completely ignorant about quality. We need micro-lab solutions next to the farmers, rapid-aflatoxin tests, rapid grain quality analysis.
Over and above this, we can have grain pre-processing facilities close to the farmers such as the dryers, some pre-cleaners such as destoners (to remove stones), and above all, ask the farmers to at the very least dry maize on clean tarpaulin.
Government must drive the Quality Agenda. That’s the only way for Ugandan maize to fetch a premium in the market. From Quality seeds, Quality farming methods and processes, Quality Inputs, trained farmers, all the way to Quality drying and transportation methods.
Farmers must also be sensitized about options that companies such as Mandela Millers present – where instead of the farmer going through the trouble of drying the maize. They could just deliver it at the Busega facility and get it dried on their behalf, and the water factor applied to arrive at the tonnages of dry maize to be paid for.
Without Quality at Source, farmers are leaving their farms unaware of how much moisture is in their maize or even simple measures of knowing the Test Weight of their Maize. This is a campaign that Government must take on and sustain for at least two years.