Imuka

About Solution

Uganda is a landlocked Country in East Africa with a total land area of 241,551km, 17 percent of which is lakes and wetlands. The country has fertile soils and regular rainfall, making land it's most important natural resource indeed, Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing more than 66 percent of the workforce. About 85 percent of Ugandans live in rural areas and rely mainly on Agriculture. Uganda's population number is about 36million and is relatively young, with the lowest median age in the world. Further, it has one of the fastest rates of population growth in the world, about 3.3 per annum. Thus, agriculture will continue to pay a key role in the future, as the population explodes and brings a huge demand for food and, however, agriculture remains largely underdeveloped. The agricultural value chains of Uganda remain Weak and fragmented, with much of their potential yet to be unlocked. Imuka programme empowers marginalized farmers in rural areas of Uganda by focusing on the ''missing link" in agricultural programmes. Imuka will will use a farmer
centered approach by combining rural development projects with consciousness raising, training, education and information sharing to facilitate integrated, self
directed, and sustainable development in surrounding communities. Imuka will address various domains including education for more then 300 students each year. Children and young adults between the ages of 10 and 25 years old will receive materials and participate in agricultural activities such as the school farm. Imuka programme will also focus on the growth of Cassava plantation. Cassava plays a very important role in Uganda, at both the household level and a national food security level. It is the second most important staple crop in Uganda, and cassava's ability to grow in marginal environment and it's flexibility in the cropping and food systems make it an attractive crop for most Ugandan farmers. It is estimated that in some parts of Uganda, nearly 90% of the people consume cassava in different forms daily. It provides opportunity for both sexes, particularly in terms of employment on the farm and in processing units and local industries, making it an important source of income in Ugandan households. Cassava processing starts at household level, 56% of farmers process their cassava by turning it into chips(91%) or cassava flour (33%). The key challenge of processing cassava is the low level of adoption of modern machines. Knives and mortar are still used by many to chip and grind cassava, through adoption of modern chippers is also fairly high (41%). However, very low use of modern drying methods and continued reliance on sun is a major challenge due to weather inconsistency. Other problems include mold growth and domestic animals. The basic processing of cassava involves peeling, chipping, then drying the chips, the chips are then sold as they are or further milled into flour. Flour can then be sold as is or further mixed with other flour (for example. Millet, sorghum) to produce composite flour data on the range of the processors and their shares in not readily available nationally, the processing landscape will be Imuka and supply hub for both traditional and sun
dried chips. Overall, traditional cassava flour is the primary product made from cassava, followed by composite flour and high
quality cassava flour. Imuka in my language means raise up. By Senyonjo Hebert.

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