Value addition on Moringa brings in more income

Though Moringa is consumed unprocessed in countries such as India, the Agricultural Research Centre (ARC) of South Africa is making massive profits out of assorted products produced from Moringa.

Research at ARC has proved that Moringa is 7 times the vitamin C of Orange, 10 times the vitamin A of carrot, 17 times the calcium of milk, 15 times the potassium of banana, and 25 times the iron of spinach.

The just concluded Third Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD3), exposed participants on innovative research approaches leading to value addition on indigenous medicinal plants in South Africa. A field trip to ARC revealed how result-oriented research can increase income of both research institutions and household farmers through the processing of agricultural produces into a number of branded products.  One of such plants looked at during the trip on 07^th April, 2016 was Moringa which is grown locally at the ARC and local farmers.

From 40 Kuroiler Hens and 4 cocks, we are now able to supply 1500 Kuroiler chicks to one of our clients in Mukono, Uganda

 A few weeks back, a client submitted an order to our Organization for supplying him 1500 one-day old Kuroiler chicks and last week we were able to deliver 500 chicks as you can see in the photo slideshow below and in the video above while brooding. The chicks were hatched from fertilized eggs from our 40 hens and 4 cocks plus 40 hens and 4 cocks from our two staffs. As you can remember, we started with 40 Kuroiler Hens and 4 cocks as per this Link provides for. At the comment, we have hatched over 4000 fertilized eggs into over 4000 Kuroiler chicks. Every week we take fertilized eggs to the hatchery and every week we deliver new one-day old chicks to our clients and to our local Brooding Centre in Kikandwa village. As an Organization (Kikandwa Rural Communities Development Organization – KIRUCODO), we no longer have an office space as almost all the office space was turned into a Brooding space. Some of our clients press orders for one day old, one week old, two weeks old and one month old Kuroiler chicks. Lastly, if you are out there and need to buy good quality Kuroiler chicks, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at any time. Please enjoy the photos below and feel free to join our Facebook Group for timely updates:

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Agro-processing Potential to benefit African young farmers

Rural young farmer daily activity with simple tools he or she can afford

Agriculture is the cornerstone of Uganda’s economy, which is similar to the situation in most African countries. To be more specific, over 85% of the population is activating in this area. At the very same time, the poverty is severe and widely spread across the entire country. Farmers, especially women and youth, have a very low income, which does not cover even their basic human needs. One of the most realistic and reachable goals in the fight against poverty would be to promote and implement agro-processing. With some support and budgeting from the government and NGO’s, farmers would have the chance to earn much more with just a bit of extra effort.
The term of agro-processing refers to the practice of transforming primary agricultural products into secondary or even tertiary commodities, which can be sold on the market for a much higher price. In other words, it means turning raw materials into more complex and expensive merchandise, instead of selling it cheap after the first step of production. Obviously, this would require a certain level of skills and technology, but it would also bring higher profits. Besides the direct financial benefits, agro-processing would also bring a series of other advantages. First of all, it would supply the community with a wider variety of locally produced thus cheaper goods. Furthermore, it would increase the level of life thanks to the increased access to secondary and tertiary agricultural products. Second, it would extend products’ shelf-life, thus decrease waste. Since farmers would no longer be desperate to sell their products as soon as possible and avoid them becoming spoiled, they would be able to analyze more offers on the market and choose the most convenient one. Third, agro-processing would require additional workers. This would allow young inexperienced farmers to be involved in this area and would extend the amount of people earning income from this activity. Moreover, processing of raw materials would most probably also increase food safety and improve the reputation of Uganda’s agriculture.
However, in order for this to happen, it is important to improve the agriculture policy of the country. It is also vital to attract adequate budgeting, not only in the form of donations, but also regular business investments. This can be done through a proper investment policy created at the official level. Agro-processing also requires extensive training of farmers, especially the young ones. Implementation of the use of technologies could also be done through the local youth, as this would increase the speed and quality of the process.
In other words, there is still much to be done in this area. But the important thing to remember is that once local farmers and their government will understand the importance of agro-processing development, the entire society will start moving towards a brighter tomorrow, free of poverty and abuse.