WAKISO – Gudie Leisure Farm (GLF) is set to host the Pulses Cottage Industry Symposium – a private sector-led initiative aimed at enlightening would-be and existing investors in its value chains about the opportunities therein as well as emerging developments and their implications.
Prof. Gudula Naiga Basaza, Founder and Managing Director of the Farm told the press on Tuesday that the symposium will take place on Monday, 4 March, 2024 at Gudie leisure Farm in Najjeera II – Kira Municipality, Wakiso district.
“The pulses value chains play a central role in food and nutrition security as well as in revenue generation for the country,” said
“Cognizant of this and of the role they can play in addressing the youth unemployment problem which is undoubtedly one of the most biting issues for the country today, we are excited to organize a symposium dedicated to pulses! The symposium will highlight several profitable enterprises under different pulses value chains which can be established and leveraged to address several issues such as unemployment, and to transform the economy and livelihoods of our people, especially youth. We shall also be exposed to state of the art research and innovations that are being developed by National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO). The symposium will be a one stop access moment to the key players in inputs provision, cultivation, value addition, logistics and distribution as well as trade and other essential business services. These business opportunities need to be highlighted and promoted for support especially by private sector actors like ourselves who need to work more proactively with the government to attract transformative investments into the chains in order to catalyze their development. This is the drive behind such initiatives.”
Prof. Basaza also said that pulses, especially soybean, are very dear to Gudie Leisure Farm’s white meat value chain ecosystem.
“They are our main source of protein,” she explained, adding that, “Gudie Leisure Farm incubated 700 Youth Agripreneur Champions as pulses cottage managers at parish level from across the country. These in turn have trained 100 pulse out growers each. On average, they have an acreage of 70,000 dedicated to pulses. This offers a huge opportunity for private sector actors operating at higher levels in different pulses value chains to connect to reliable produce by the masses that can be easily aggregated and traced. At the symposium, we want, as a network, to learn from buyers what their expectations are so that we incorporate them in our production and post-harvest handling.”
“Increasing the competitiveness and sustainability of the players in this value chain, most especially the smallholder farmers on whom the entire private sector’s and country’s fortunes rely, is essential,” said Mr. Francis Kisirinya, Chief Membership Officer – Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU).
“Our members have made noteworthy investments as the business community in developing this sector, however, it is no secret that there is still a lot more that needs to be done. Winning in this industry requires that we work more closely towards the fulfillment of the joint vision of transforming the pulses value chains and its actors into entrepreneurially competent and competitive players in the market! Platforms of this nature that encourage strategic conversations such as the planned Spotlight event are therefore most welcome!”
Ms. Florence Nampeera, an entrepreneur and one of Gudie Leisure Farm’s district agents overseeing the development of its Youth Agripreneur Champion networks in Kyotera and Rakai said, “We have youth who are equally interested in building strong pulses value chains because they understand their value. Our young agripreneurs are excited about working with different organizations like Gudie Leisure Farm as well as other stakeholders to build strong pulse cottage industries at the parish and district levels which can be profitably integrated with established actors and do good business! We are looking forward to learning about the different market and partnership opportunities in the pulses value chains and invite, especially young people, to participate!”
