The Agro tech cassava plant in Uganda helps local farming, enhances the local industrial sector and supports farmer exports by giving them updated practices and guaranteed backing.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President, has commenced industrial value addition in Uganda through inauguration of a $5 million cassava plant by Pura Organic Agro-Tech in Nakasongola. This factory is designed to handle 40,000 metric tons of high-grade cassava starch, needed for the pharmaceutical, textile, animal feed, and packaging and biofuel industries.

The agro tech project obtains cassava from over 1,800 outgrower farmers nationwide, helping local farming and aiding industrial development. The President highlighted that making local cassava starch would cut the costs of imported medicine which would help children in Uganda.

Ramesh Babu from Pura Organic Agro-Tech said that by switching from maize to cassava, they were able to adapt to the climate, showcasing what agro tech can do. Over $5 million has been put into this modern plant. “Today, we are more than farmers; we also help Uganda grow industrially,” Babu added.

The facility is already delivering starch to Kenya and hopes to expand to other East African countries. Babu was glad for government assistance and said that the outgrower model gives farmers clean seeds, skills in modern farming and guaranteed marketing for what they produce.

Thanks to new seeds that give bigger harvests, up to six tons per acre, farmers are now involved in Uganda’s growing agro tech industry and industrial advancement.