By Chris Mugasha
BUSHENYI: Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Presidential Affairs committee have commended President Yoweri Museveni for supporting the idea of adding value to bananas by setting up the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID).
“There some people who are asking whether this banana factory under PIBID has added any value on the economy of Uganda and we have seen that its (banana factory) actually a game changer to the economy of our country,” said Simon Peter Okwaringa the Kanyum County MP who was leading the committee that visited the Bushenyi district based banana factory on Thursday to assess the progress and the challenges.
“If we had like four banana factories, we would be far and attracting billions interms of foreign exchange,” said Okwaringa.
During the visit, the MPs held a closed door meeting with the Director General Rev. Dr Florence Muranga and the institution’s technical team at PIBID’s conference hall where Muranga briefed them on the genesis and the progress of PIBID.
The chairperson commended Muranga for going an extra mile to put theoretical knowledge into practical. “She did not burry her talent but she has instead put her talent in good use to benefit the society,” Okwaringa said.
Okwaringa thanked Museveni for withdrawing Muranga from Germany where he had wanted to implement the idea. “This is something that we would have loved to have in Soroti,” the chairperson noted.
He called upon Ugandans especially Bushenyi people to support Muranga in all ways. “With such a banana factory, we would wish to see Bushenyi’s economy changing,” he appealed. He argued that people should form and join co-operatives if they want to tap from such an investment. PIBID has formed over 20 banana co-operatives in the region.
“Those who received the Parish Development Model (PDM) money use it to improve your plantations and deliver matooke to the factory,” Okwaringa challenged.
Among the challenges that Okwaringa said Muranga reported to be facing include; the powerful/industrialized countries which don’t want to see the developing countries like Uganda penetrating the World market, lack of enough power to run the machines and lack of enough water for production.
According to Okwaringa, the funding gaps are not attracting the 1st class scientists to come and support Muranga to achieve the targets.
The MPs pledged to lobby and engage government to support the factory to realize its full potential and roll-out operations fully.
The Bushenyi district woman MP Annet Katusiime Mugisha who is a member of the committee described the banana factory as a ‘baby’ that cannot be abandoned but to be supported until it becomes operational fully. “It’s a great opportunity for our area interms of value addition,” Katusiime said.
She implored banana farmers especially those in Bushenyi to improve and expand their plantations so that it can be sustained.
Katusiime however called upon the PIBID management to expedite the process of setting up cold rooms to help farmers during the dry season when they are usually stranded with matooke due to bumper harvests.
Speaking to journalists, Muranga explained that, “some people may say that the factory has taken long but it’s not me (Muranga) to blame. It is government’s hesitation in releasing funding to the initiative. Sometimes we don’t realize what we request for.”
She said apart from the last three years where there has been some consistency, for 17years funding has been a ‘hiccup’. “The disruptions we have cannot sustain the export market. We need to raise our production capacity,” she explained.
“We are the losers when we invest in training the scientists like we have done and we don’t support them to realize what they were trained for,” Muranga said noting that, “its very expensive to manage scientific man power/human resource whereby you train them and someone else takes them.”
Quick facts
As part of its piloting stage, the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development (PIBID) and The Banana Industrial and Research Development Centre (BIRDC) have a Banana Industry Pilot plant/Factory located at Nyaruzinga Village, Bushenyi District.
However, PIBID/BIRDC piloting stage is almost over, transitioning into the commercialization stage. As part of this new stage, PIBID/BIRDC is up-scaling its capacities, including the pilot processing plant itself by equipping it with higher capacity processing machines that will increase the processing capacity to ten times more.
Specifically, processing of the fresh green bananas is scheduled to increase from the current 14tonnes capacity per day to 140 tonnes per day. This increase will be realized within two financial years (By FY 2028/2029). So far, the designs for the up-scaled factory floor plans have been completed. The next activity is procurement of the machines and manufacturing of the same machines.
A Brief Chronology of Events at PIBID:
– Prof. Muranga conducted a PhD research on Matooke value addition in Germany, funded by Makerere University.
– Upon her return, President Museveni was impressed with Muranga’s research results and encouraged her application.
– PIBID was established and registered around 2006.
– The President ordered funding for further research on banana value addition.
– Research was moved to Nyaruzinga, Bushenyi’s former farm and research institute.
– Bushenyi Local Government provided land for PIBID’s operations.
– Over 20 products from Matooke were developed through the research.
– A commercial factory was established to manufacture these products.
– The market response was overwhelmingly positive, leading to international ventures.
– ISO certification was secured, enabling access to local and foreign markets.
– The government allocated over 450 acres of land in Kirihura District for a Banana Industrial Park.
For more inquiries, please contact: officeofdirector@pibid.org.
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