Strengthening The Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Value Chain In Uganda Through An Agro-Science Park At Busitema University Arapai Campus – Soroti City
1. Arapai Agro-Science Park (AASP)
Busitema University in partnership with the Science, Technology and Innovation Secretariat in the Office of the President (STI – OP) of the Republic of Uganda is implementing a project/venture titled “Strengthening the Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) value chain in Uganda through an Agro-science Park at Busitema University’s Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (FAAS) – Arapai Campus”. The main objective of the project is to strengthen the value chains of various crops through the creation of Arapai Agro-Science Park (AASP) for improved human health and poverty reduction in Uganda. Although AASP will be piloted with OFSP, other products will later be brought on board that include among others; dairy, oil seed, and cassava.
At the completion of the project, the University is expected to deliver a product for both local and international market, and demonstrate various technologies in the AASP in addition to its core role of teaching, research and outreach. For the case of the OFSP, the AASP is expected to produce intermediary products (especially OFSP puree and flour) that could be used in the bakery industry to make different confectionary products. Studies have indicated that OFSP puree and flour has the potential to replace wheat which could be a game changer in reducing costs of production in the bakery industry by about 12-30%. According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ data, the country imports wheat worth approximately 100 million USD annually, yet OFSP products are estimated to have the potential to reduce this cost by 70%. The OFSP products also have the potential to reduce the use of sugar and oil in baking by about 30%. These reductions would greatly lower the cost of production for bakers and attract more youth into the bakery industry.
To achieve the above, STI-OP has initially awarded FAAS 300 million Ugx to carryout out preliminary works for the establishment of AASP. These include baseline studies on sweet potato value chain in eastern Uganda; soil profiling/suitability testing; market studies; benchmarking; feasibility studies, formation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the operation of AASP as a semiautonomous entity under the Busitema University Holdings Limited; development of the Master plan for the AASP (and FAAS at large); development of a business plan; and Environmental Impact Assessment, among others. So far, the project has refined the concept; developed a work plan that captures the activities and milestones of the different stakeholders; signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the venture partners namely Busitema University, Century Green Consortium a food business giant in the USA, Institute for National Transformation of Nigeria and STI-OP; The team has already developed tools for baseline, market, and feasibility studies, among others and these studies are already ongoing. The whole venture including infrastructure and equipment is likely to cost over 40 million USD from both government and donor funding.
2. Busitema University Agro-Entrepreneurship Centre (BUAEC)
Busitema University in partnership with the STI-OP and Nigeria’s Institute for National transformation (INT) within the framework of the Agro-science Park venture is initiating a project titled “Youth Empowerment in Agrientrepreneurship Programme (YEAP)-300” with the aim of establishing the Busitema University Agro-Entrepreneurship Center (BUAEC) at the Faculty of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (FAAS) – Arapai Campus. The vision of the Center is to skill and nurture youths in agribusiness entrepreneurship to embark on building Ugandan agriproduct brands, thereby growing the country’s economy. The three-year pilot project will train 100 youths each year, hence the “YEAP-300” slogan.
At the end of each training, the beneficiaries would have developed the capacities to establish and effectively run their profitable agribusiness; plan and manage the growth of their enterprises; manage state of art farm facilities and implements; creatively add value to their agricultural products with the mindset to sell in local and the export markets; become good team players with diverse stakeholders; and become wealthy, hence contributing to community empowerment.
The YEAP-300 project has provisions to renovate selected facilities at FAAS to support the trainees and external trainers in terms of office space; accommodation; lecture rooms; dinning space; and learning farm enterprises. YEAP-300 also has provisions for hiring Farm staff, including a Farm Manager and an Officer for every farm enterprise. These officials are expected to operate semi-autonomously under BUAEC to encourage operation of the Farm as a business, but the farm will be fully accessible for regular Faculty academic training activities.
3. Criteria for Selection of Beneficiaries of the BUAEC
The beneficiaries of the BUAEC (youth) will be selected and trained from a nationwide search supervised by Busitema University and Science, Technology, and Innovation Secretariat – Office of the President (STI-OP). Media advertisements will be put up by BUAEC and through recommendations from responsible authorities as the centre may determine will select the beneficiaries. Among the key requirements to benefit from the centre will include among others; Being a youth, Educational level of at least senior four and having accessibility to at least four acres of land.
4. Sustainability plans
- The AASP will be run as a separate business entity producing OFSP puree and flour for the confectionary and bakery industry as among the products from it. It’s hoped that through production and sales of the many products from the AASP will be able to make it self-sustaining.
- The sustainability of the BUAEC will depend on its technical committee wining grants from various donors to support the center and the youth. It will also depend on the farm that will be run as a business.
Turyasingura Geoffrey
Venture Leader
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