The long delayed completions of the construction of a Mango Processing Factory in Yumbe are no longer a public outcry ever since the Food and Nutrition Solutions (FuNoS) from Makerere undertaken the construction works.
Latest from the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) secretariat and Yumbe district Local Government gives a sigh of relief to mango farmers in Yumbe and the West Nile as the construction works are nearly at the claimax soon to be officially commissioned and given to public to use.
According to Dr Samuel Mugasi, the Executive Director NAADS the factory shall be commissioned in December2020 to allow farmers in West Nile add value of their produced mangoes.
Mugasi said this while at a technical commissioning of the factory yesterday with a team of officials fromUganda Development Corporation (UDC), FuNoS, Yumbe district Local Government and representatives of farmers in Yumbe.
He said when commissioned the factory shall enable farmers add value to mangoes in West Nile and start exporting processed fruit juice at a reasonable price rather than the ordinary exportation of raw mangoes to Kenya, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Yumbe Mango Processing Factory was established with a measuring capacity of 5metric tonnes per hour and will be processing local mangoes produced by farmers in Yumbe and the neighbouring districts.
In 2015, government through NAADS injected Ugx 8.9bn in establishing factory that will add value to mangoes in the West Nile. The project was supposed to complete in 2016 but stalled due to lack of funds until Food and Nutrition Solution (FuNoS), a company owned by lecturers from Makerere from School of Technology, Nutrition and Bioengineering undertaken the construction works.
NAADS Secretariat said 90 percent of works at the factory is done with all pricessing equipments fully installed in place.
Similar value additional factories have been established by the gov’t of uganda in areas of Kayunga, Tororo among others.
