The Embassy of the Netherlands has partnered with farmers from the Kigezi and Ankole regions to enhance the quality standards of fruits and vegetables, enabling them to effectively compete in the international market.
Collaborating with non-governmental organizations such as the Horticulture Acceleration Project (HortiMap), Blue Solutions to Poverty (commonly known as TechnoServe), and Chemiphar Laboratory (an internationally accredited agricultural inputs analytical laboratory and inspection company), the embassy is conducting training sessions for farmer groups on improving planting and harvesting practices to produce higher quality produce that meets international market standards.
Nicholas Orapa, Head of Inspection and Seed Testing at Chemiphar Laboratory, states that the partnership with farmers is being implemented in the districts of Kanungu, Kisoro, Kabale, Rukiga, Rubanda, Ntungamo, and Rwampara in western Uganda. The initiative targets farmers cultivating avocados, eggplants, onions, hot peppers, pineapples, cabbages, and other fruits and vegetables.
Orapa highlights that the intervention follows a survey conducted by the organizations and the embassy, revealing that many vegetable and fruit farmers in the targeted districts were selling products of poor quality that failed to meet international market standards.
He notes that farmers often sell fruits and vegetables with various defects, including physical, mechanical, entomological, pathological, external, internal, and physiological, resulting in losses. Through this intervention, aimed at farmer groups, members will disseminate knowledge to educate more farmers about the benefits of adhering to quality standards.
Farmers, represented by Judith Komugisha, a tomato and eggplant farmer from Rubaare village in Nyabugando ward, Kinoni town council, Rwampara district, and Wilson Aine, a pineapple farmer from Nyaruhama village, Nyongozi parish, Nyamukana town council, Ntungamo district, acknowledge that they have been employing traditional methods for growing, harvesting, and packaging fruits, leading to lower selling prices and a lack of interest from buyers looking to export products beyond Uganda.
Medard Mataro, a cabbage farmer from Kigongi village, Nangara parish, Nyamweru Sub County, and Justus Ensiteriyeitu, also a cabbage farmer from Igomanda parish in Rubanda district, express skepticism about the initiative’s success unless the government first eliminates all counterfeit agricultural inputs from the market.
