A new sweet potato processing facility in Uganda's Teso sub-region is expected to expand processing capacity and create additional market channels for locally grown sweet potatoes.

According to local news outlet Teso Advanced News, the facility is intended to increase the commercial value of sweet potatoes and support activity across the regional value chain. Sweet potatoes are widely grown in Teso as a food crop and source of household income.

Farmers currently rely partly on sales of fresh roots, leaving them exposed to price fluctuations and losses when produce cannot be marketed quickly. Processing could extend the marketable life of the crop and enable sweet potatoes to be supplied in different product forms.

The facility is expected to process locally produced sweet potatoes into products with higher commercial value. This could generate additional demand for growers while supporting businesses involved in aggregation, processing, packaging, transport, and marketing.

Closer links between production, processing, and markets could also provide growers with incentives to increase productivity and improve the quality and consistency of supplies. The processing operation will require sustained volumes of suitable sweet potatoes to maintain production.

The development forms part of efforts in Teso to increase agricultural value addition and reduce dependence on sales of unprocessed produce. A processing industry could also provide demand for services from traders, transporters, processors, and other operators in the supply chain.

The performance of the facility will depend on consistent supplies of quality sweet potatoes, links between growers and processors, market access, and the development of products that meet consumer demand. If these requirements are met, the facility could increase the share of sweet potato production marketed through processed rather than fresh channels in the Teso sub-region.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com