Soybean price drop leaves farmers counting losses

Farmers in northern Uganda are counting losses following a drop in soybean price.

 Mr Bonny Abor, a member of Yele Pi Yotkomi Farmers Group in Ayer Sub-county in Kole District, told Daily Monitor on Tuesday: “We were motivated by the good price of soybeans last year, a reason we embarked on large scale farming. We had hoped to get some good income from it but to our disappointment, the prices are down as few oilseed companies are not interested in the product.”

Mr Abor said they planted seven acres of improved soybeans.

 Ms Judith Adeki, the chairperson of Yele pi Yotkomi Group, said their members spent a lot of money on buying seeds, fertilisers and pesticides to ensure high quality yield.

 “In the past, the locals had baptised soybeans ‘Somalia’, where UPDF soldiers on peacekeeping mission would come back with a lot of money and go on spending sprees in the villages. But now our ‘Somalia’ is no more and we are stuck with it in our stores,” Ms Adeki said.

 Mr Patrick Ogwal, the chairperson of Lira Produce Dealers Association, said farmers are demoralised.

 He added that prices of other crops such as sunflower and maize have also drastically dropped.

 “I bought a packet of five kilogrammes of improved sunflower seed at Shs60,000, but now the price of sunflower has dropped to Shs700 from Shs1,600 a kilo,”  Mr Ogwal said.

 He accused seed traders of hiking prices during the planting season.

 “During harvesting season, farmers cry foul over low prices of farm produce, yet they have spent a lot of money on production,” he added.

 “A packet of three kilos of DK777 – imported maize variety from Kenya – is sold at Shs55,000, but the price of a kilo of maize which was Shs1,700 has now dropped to Shs700. This is so demoralising to the farmers,” Mr Ogwal said.

 He, however, said he would store the produce until prices stabilise.

 Mr John Christopher Okwang, the chairperson of Alito Joint Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Kole District, said the two giant cooking oil processing factories in Lira City; Mt Meru Millers and Mukwano Industries, are facing stiff competition from imported cooking oil.

Mr Okwang appealed to the government and development partners to avail them with processing machines to add value to the soybeans.

 “We are looking at acquiring machines for crushing cooking oil out of soybeans and sunflowers because the prices are very low and buyers are not even interested in them,” he said.

Mr Deo Kibirige, the communications manager at Mt Meru Millers, yesterday told Daily Monitor: “We are buying Soybeans at Shs1,600 at the factory gate rate but we are not buying sunflowers at the moment.”

 Three years ago, the demand for soybeans was high because of the mushrooming oilseed factories in Lira City.