In many parts of Uganda, fruits worth billions -if not trillions- of shillings that could have been processed for longer shelf life as well as exports are rotting away as commercial fruit growers across the country look on helplessly. A case in point is greater Masaka sub-region region, where growers report that between 20 to 40 per cent of the pineapples they produce in large commercial scale go to waste.
The situation has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 containment measures such as transport restrictions, quarantine (including on boarder districts) and ban of weekly markets. To hedge against such losses, commercial growers growing pineapples are demanding for a pineapple processing factory in the greater Masaka sub-region.
For all these reasons, Kasiita Francis, arguably the biggest pineapple farmer in the country, alongside other pineapple growers in the greater Masaka region, with the support of the local leadership, are demanding that a processing facility be constructed in the sub-region.
Monitor.co.ug explains that with the factory in place, the growers believe production will further multiply and price stability will certainly be guaranteed.
