Archive for the ‘agriculture’ Category

20 Feb

Harvest Money Expo – What Next for Agribusiness in Uganda?

Posted by ssmusoke in agriculture, agrifin mobile, enterprenur.

harvest_moneyOver the weekend, I took time to go to the Harvest Money Expo (https://www.newvision.co.ug/tag/harvest-money-expo/) with the aim of getting some ideas to stimulate my mind with agribusiness opportunities. I awas fortunate to also meet with Robert Kabushenga, Dr Kisamba Mugerwa and Hon. Rosemary Sseninde.

I did some personal introspection on why agribusiness for a technology slanted and entrenched character like myself? My reasons are wide and varied, but include:

  1. The healthy eating challenge – with the rampant industrialization of the food industry, we are eating more and more hormone driven chemically enhanced meat and vegetables, sugar induced juices. This is an opportunity to start taking charge of my eating, in a small but significant way just like my friend James Wire Lunghabo (https://www.instagram.com/wire_james/)
  2. The investment challenge a long play – agribusiness is the next business frontier. Every one has to eat – you can skip for a day or two, but you must eat! So this is the best place to invest, however carefully & gradually growing a portifolio with focused investment.
  3. Retirement plans – oh yes, in about 15 years I will be knocking on retirement from the daily technology grind as I am not sure if my body will still be able to take the beating. So now is the time for me to start planning on what I will do then
  4. Family bonding activities – with all the technology drivers, concrete streets, walled homes, hustle and bustle, simple farm activities provide a chance for the family to bond, learning and teaching from each other. Let us mis-educate each other
  5. Learning platform – agriculture provides a different learning dimension and perspective, how to play well with mother nature at the same time trying to beat her at her game. GMO vs indeginous, do I need to make that capital investment or structure working capital, unskilled vs semi-skilled vs skilled human resources, business processes, organic or commerical business models, what kind of inputs to use, market approach and segmentation, to-do or not-to-do value addition, local vs foreign, and a hybrid to mix all of them together in one pot.

So did the expo deliver, oh yes, I had no expectations, walked around with an open mind, and obviously the depth and breadth of solutions and distributors was immense and varied.

Given all that, what next?

  1. Focused Agricultural Information provision in specific areas for farmers is truly a missing gap – this is what National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) was meant to be. Not just extension workers going to farmers, but experience, exposure and eduction with the aim of improving productivity. The value chains exist, but how to bring all the players in line without exploiting the farmer
  2. Alternate Financing options are necessary – BOU Agricultural Credit Facility (ACF) is only in name, but not available to the farmers in the $5,000 to $50,000 range who are the main drivers of the sector. The commerical banks pay lip service to farmers treating them like lepers without taking time to create specialized vehicles for success.
  3. The need to coordinate players into “assembly lines” from seed/baby animal to plate. This is illustrated by the expo organization, which attracted government, public and private sector players, local and foreign, as well as across the value chains.
  4. In addition to knowledge, quality inputs are a missing link – seeds, fertilizers, chemicals (yes a necessary evil), practices and processes to improve production.
  5. Agribusiness education – the marriage between agriculture and business practices, which is a paradigm shift that is required to drive the sector to new heights. This will lead to the realization that there are multiple models that can be adopted, there is no single right way to approach agribusiness, but its all based on context, location and complimentary advantage.
  6. A need for a sprinkling of relevant appropriate technology (not only IT), but even tools, to spur growth in the new area. The soil stabilized bricks, hyroponics and natural shea butter based beauty & health products, are areas that really caught my eye.

The million dollar question for me is “How to drive agribusiness from subsistence to semi-intensive at a national scale?”

 

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22 May

Styx Technology Group Launches Poultry Farm Revenue Calculator App

Posted by ssmusoke in agriculture, android, enterprenur, innovation, mobile computing, styx technology group, technology.

As part of the Styx Technology Group mission to leverage technology to support executives identify, implement & refine strategic technology interventions in their business & target market segments, we are proud to partner with Kkungu Poultry Farm Enterprises Ltd to help bring relevant, useable cutting edge technology to Uganda agriculture executives.

Leveraging the experiences shared in this post Poultry Feed Economic 101 – Changing the Supplier Scenario, the team has built a simple easy to use calculator to address this question using minimal inputs to help poultry farm managers:

  1. Estimate their spot profitability based on the cost of inputs and revenue from sales of eggs
  2. Use simple data to decide whether to make the feed change based on the impact on the bottom line.

Download the application today from Google Play store with this link http://bit.ly/poultry-farm-calc

Please do share your feedback and let us know to improve this by sending email to poultrycalc at styxtechgroup dot com

Screenshots below:

Layer Profitability computation

Layer Profitability computation

Sample Layer Profitability computation

Sample Layer Profitability computation

Feed Switch Comparison Computation

Feed Switch Comparison Computation

Sample Feed Switch Comparison Computation

Sample Feed Switch Comparison Computation

8 Oct

Agriculture in Uganda – Where Next?

Posted by ssmusoke in agriculture, innovation. Tagged: , .

On this eve of the 52nd Independence anniversary of the Republic of Uganda, I look at the future of my motherland and wonder where the one big boost will come from.

Over the last 2 years my eyes have been opened to the potential for agriculture to improve the livelihoods of Ugandans in particular, Africa in general and emerging economies or Global south in general. While its well accepted in all circles that this is the case, there are a few key areas where emphasis is not placed which I see as critical success factors, and others which are not.

Markets (important): James Wire poses an interesting question, COMESA vs EU: What market for Uganda’s products?  Due to the infrastructure challenges that we face in Uganda, the country cannot compete favorably without economies of scale (important) and agriculture as a business attitude (important) While it is important to look externally, without a strong local foundation for best practices and support, external markets still remain a pipe dream

Economies of Scale (important): These provide means of leveraging the abundant fertile land, predictable rain fall (yes 4 months a year is good enough), cheap labor (if you can use it) to improve the profitability of agribusiness. Why do I focus on profitability and not cost reduction, this is because the costs can only come down to a certain point which is not low enough to compete with other countries. Unfortunately a lot of donor based programs supporting agriculture focus on small holder farmers, who will never produce enough to feed the nation, or even export

Agriculture as a business attitude (important): The bulk of agriculture productions by the elderly and rural folk without options whose only take on agriculture to survive by meeting only their basic needs. This means that there is a shortage of innovation in business models. record keeping and core practices to ensure that agriculture is profitable in the small, leading to increased investments and focus. On the other hand, there is a growing segment of the middle class who are looking to agriculture to compliment income from formal employment, however this suffered from being relegated to a side activity without the focus needed to make it successful.

Government buy-in and support (not-important): I know I am going to get shot for this one, but there is no role for government to play over and above providing basic infrastructure, and like in Uganda policies are already available. If there is sufficient evidence that agriculture as a business is profitable, private sector has always found ways of staying ahead of government.

Focus Production Areas (important): Agriculture focused on feeding the nation is the most profitable, given that there is always a ready market for produce, within the population. Hence my thinking is to focus on staples and livestock as a core foundation for the industry in Uganda.

Infrastructure (important): Transport is especially important for getting produce to markets, however if a business approach is taken, aspects like post harvest handling and storage can provide a mitigating element to infrastructure challenges

Financing (important): I say bankers are shrewd business people, show them potential and they will flock to it like bees to honey. Its not up to bankers to prove that farmers are good clients, but rather for farmers to prove to bankers that they are worthwhile investments.

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