Posted on April, 28, 2016 at 09:02 am
By Dorothy Nakaweesi
A road map to promote production of sunflower in Uganda has been launched during a stakeholders' meeting held in Kampala on April 21.
It is a component of International Trade Centre (ITC) Supporting Indian Trade and Investment in Africa (Sita) project.
Govind Venuprasad, the coordinator, Sita Office for Asia and the Pacific, said: "Sunflower is one of the commodities Sita is promoting to improve the competitiveness of select value chains through partnerships by institutions and businesses from India."
The roadmap highlights the potential of the sunflower value chain and is aligned with Uganda's social and economic development priorities.
"While the sector has grown spurred largely by contract farming, Uganda's ability to fully capitalise on growing global demand has been limited," said Arancha Gonzalez, the ITC executive director.
She added that strengthening the supply chain, creating linkages, diversifying production and adopting improved technologies will lead to higher growth.
In 2013, Ugandan farmers produced 250,000 tonnes of sunflower and seeds representing a 216 per cent growth from the turn of the century.
This is mainly attributed to expansion of area under cultivation, which itself grew by 204 per cent from 2000, reaching 240,000 hectares in 2013.
The past five years saw a 6.8 per cent annual growth in area under cultivation. But yields meanwhile remained relatively flat; after reaching a peak of 13,322 hectogrammes per hectare in 2010, they fell back to 10,417 in 2013.
Although production and yields declined in 2011/2012 due to unfavourable weather conditions, the area harvested continues to expand and the sector is expected to post positive gains in the future.
"It should be noted that improved yields may be more elusive as increased production places greater demands on seed stock and training resources," Dorothy Nakimbugwe, national consultant for the road map, pointed out in her findings
She added despite considerable development support, as well as success of contract farming model, the independent farmer channel has failed to develop in tandem.
A key constraint has been limited availability of high-yield variety seeds, which are monopolised by the large contractors.
In addition, there is a significant lack of trust in the value chain between farmers, traders and millers. Without collaboration, the value chain suffers from inefficiencies that diminish both output and quality.
At processing level, the milling segment has been stunted due to the deficit of raw material (seeds) caused by an underdeveloped independent farmer segment. "The majority of millers align themselves with major contractors, thereby further diminishing the supply capacities of the independent channel," Nakimbugwe said.
Uganda's ability to fully capitalise on the sector's strong global growth is hindered.
She said: "The expansion in global sunflower output is being driven by particularly robust demand in developing markets, following on the heels of population growth and changing consumption patterns associated with rising incomes."
Source: The Monitor