The Purpose of this project is to construct silos in strategic locations throughout Uganda. To have an additional 53,000mt of storage for grains and adjacent drying facilities to reduce the aflatoxins levels in the products. The purpose is to mill the grains for distribution to the East African Community (EAC). The project has arisen through direct request from the Ugandan Minister of Trade that there is acute lack of storage facilities resulting in higher than acceptable aflatoxin levels, and noticeable lack of food security throughout the EAC and wider regions. The Major products produced will be Maize flour, in our first year we intent to mill 120,000mt of maize into maize flour, this will be in 3 sizes, 50kg, 25kg & 10kg, Bran will be produced in only 50kg bags. Bran is a by-product of milling maize and accounts for 20-30% of the total weight, which we will use to produce high quality animal feed. The project will be operational in mid 2023.
Problem/ Need
The primary challenge the Ugandan maize market faces is uncontrolled quality of maize and irregular price fluctuations.
If you want to secure existing product tied up in off take agreements, you must pay more. Traders are very sensitive to logistics costs, so finding a centralized location to aggregate maize and bring down costs will dramatically change the market. Regional maize markets like DRC, South Sudan, CAR, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan etc. are among the most food insecure countries globally, with inconsistent and timely sources of maize which struggle to quickly mitigate these food security crises.
Solution
Centralized grain storage with milling facilities improves value stream management, thereby reducing wastage, increasing saleable and millable maize into the human and animal food chain therefore increasing profitability.
Engaging primary producers and entering the primary production business secures crops in volumes necessary to meet local and regional demand thereby maximizing the profitability of the centralized facility.
Sub-Saharan Africa has different characteristics to other parts of the world meaning that to be profitable, it is necessary to be in control of as much of the value chain as possible.
UGANDA: ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-and-Tropics) 2020 research suggests the per capita maize consumption is 53kg. At a population of 45 million, annual consumption levels are just under 2.4 million tonnes. Population is predicted to increase by around 30% by 2030 with a more urbanised population. ICRISAT research indicates urban populations are more inclined to consume maize and maize flour in particular than rural populations. |
FEWSNET (Famine Early Warning Systems Network) research shows that Uganda has a 5-year annual average surplus of 496,000 tonnes of maize.
