MUKONO – Tunga Nutrition (U) Ltd, one of Uganda’s leading animal feed manufacturers has launched a new storage and distribution depot in Mukono.
Dr. Samuel Ssewagudde, the commercial manager Tunga Nutrition said the distribution depot launched on Wednesday, November 29 will help farmers have equitable access to nutritious food by supporting them in producing animal protein optimally and sustainably.
He said the company; a joint-venture animal nutrition business of Nutreco International BV & Unga Holdings Plc seeks to serve its expanding customer base across Mukono and the surrounding areas.
At the distribution depot, he said customers will be able to access both the Hendrix Concentrate and the Fugo complete animal feed among signature brands of Tunga Nutrition.
“We have been reaching our customers through distributors and then distributors selling to agents. Under such an arrangement, the information that comes to us is sort of like second or third-hand information. So, we set up this depot to get close to the customers [and] be able to receive the right feedback,” Dr. Ssewagudde said.
“So we want to know, what the factors that are affecting performance for farms are. We are using them as an opportunity to intimately relate to our customers but at the same time, bring our feed and all the other nutritional solutions that we have closer to them,” he added.
Dr. Ssewagudde said the company has completed plans to open other depots in other parts of the country including Mbarara to serve the western part of the country.
“Our major objective as a business is to support farmers to produce animal protein with profit. So we want our food to be that food that allows them to make profits. So it means we have to check on its price and we have to check on its quality,” he told PML Daily in an interview.
The depot, he said will also house experts to demystify animal nutrition by tipping and advising customers on better practices.
Tunga Nutrition general manager Toochukwu Chido said all their feeds are being manufactured locally and in the process, impacts Uganda’s economy through job creation and taxes.
“When we talk about value, Tunga Nutrition is bringing a lot of it to the table, we are formulating and manufacturing locally produced feed which is of good quality and that is affordable, available for the small scale to the medium scale to the large scale operating farmer,” he said
One of the big beneficiaries will be cereals farmers.
“All our concentrates are be processed here using locally sourced raw materials, and at the same time with the quality similar to what we used import from Europe, he said, noting that currently the company only imports premixes which only account for 10% of the total raw material formulation.
All the other raw materials such as maize and soya beans he said are being sourced locally sourced.
He said that producing locally helps to reduce the costs for the farmer.
“Our primary objective, as a local company in Uganda is to ensure that the farmer is happy, and how do you make the farmer happy is by ensuring that they manage their cost, their production costs and feed accounts for over 80% of the cost of business for a farmer. So if you can get the cost of feed down, then the farmer can make more money,” he explained.
On his part, Pieter Bastiaanssen, the Managing Director Tunga Nutrition said the company plans to reach every farmer with a better quality feed.
“We aim to reach more farmers and bring more affordable feed to them in every corner of the country; we shall do this by setting up Tunga Nutrition depots in more districts and neighborhoods,” he pledged.
