Kyangwali farmers organisation on its way to signing a contract with WFP to supply quality grain

Kyangwali farmers organisation has become the second SNV supported cooperative to enter into contract negotiations with World Food Programme (WFP) to supply grain to WFP.

This follows WFP’s positive assessment of the Farmers Organisation in September 2018 where their grain was found to meet the requirements and standards set by WFP/East African Grain Standards (e.g. Grain should be aflatoxin free with no stones or weevils among others). The farmer organisation currently has 60 metric tonnes of maize grain bagged and ready in their store, awaiting the WFP trucks. The organisation was formed in October 2017 by SNV under the Agriculture and Market Support (AMS) project which is funded by WFP.

Kyangwali farmers’ organisation was established after the AMS 2017/18 project inception report revealed a lack of organised farmer organisations in Hoima district where Kyangwali FO is located. SNV undertook a series of community mobilisation, sensitisation exercises with the beneficiary farmers and their leaders to help them appreciate and embrace the concept of establishing farmer organisations. In September 2017, four farmer organisations were formed in Hoima, one of which was Kyangwali FO. The objective of the FOs was to build capacities of member farmers to increase production, improve quality and quantity of produce, bulk and collectively market produce at a central grain store and establish viable business linkages. At the start, Kyangwali FO brought together four affiliate rural producer groups (RPOs) bringing its membership to 131 farmers. The FO however faced a number of challenges; members were selling off immature maize grain at low prices, while still in the gardens; many were drying grain on bare ground with no tarpaulins and storing grain with high moisture content leading to grain quality distortion during storage.

SNV started supporting the FO. The executive was trained on leadership, governance and business planning; store management, value addition and quality control, marketing. Following the training, the executive developed their governance tools as well as a constitution and registered their FO with the district in a bid to formalise their status as an institution. A new vibrant executive committee was elected to spear head the activities of the FO and they opened up a bank account.

Later in 2017, Kyangwali FO was selected by the sub-county and district local government, in collaboration with SNV to host and utilise the modern grain store that had been constructed by WFP and NAADS. The store was equipped with post-harvest management equipment such as; moisture meters, weighing scales, stacking pallets, solar energy system among others. At the start of January 2018, Kyangwali FO started bulking. They bulked 200 metric tonnes of maize grain and sold the grain in May 2018 at UGX 580- 600 shillings per Kg (above the UGX 500-550 on the local market) and earned over UGX 100 million. The FO has expanded the number of its rural producer organisations to 5 and increased its membership 205 (78 male, 127 female).