Uganda produces 4,000 tonnes of soya per year. Seba Foods hopes to tap into farms in western Kenya to bridge the production gap. Photo/JOHN SHILISTA
Commercial production of soya beans in East Africa is set to rise with the establishment of a $1.2 million processing plant in Tororo, near the Kenya-Uganda border.
Seba Foods will sign contracts with farmers in Eastern Uganda and Western Kenya, in a move that is expected to eliminate middlemen from the chain.
Farmers will receive farm inputs and extension services, besides the assurance of a predetermined market price for their produce.
“Agricultural production in East Africa has suffered perennially from erratic rains. We expect to change this through the use of guaranteed farm prices,” Seba Foods director Disha Patel said.
Recently launched by Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, the plant located on the Jinja-Tororo highway has been set up in partnership with Export Trading Uganda, and will process more than 15,000 tonnes soya per year.
However, the declining production of soya in recent years means Seba Foods may need to step up incentives to farmers in order to encourage them to grow the crop, if the plant’s capacity is to be fully utilised.
It is estimated that Tororo produces only 4,000 tonnes of soya per year.
Seba Foods hopes to tap into Kenyan farms in the western region to bridge the production deficit.
“We need to create a fertile ground for our farmers to produce more of the crop,” said Patrick Bitature, the chairman of the Uganda Investment Authority.
The plant will also produce “tasty” soya nuggets which can be eaten as a meat substitute.
The product will be sold in sachets of 100 grams each.
The processor, though the first of its kind in East Africa, is the third on the continent.
Malawi and Zambia set up similar plants early in the decade.
“The central objective of the project is to add value to Ugandan soya beans and to introduce tasty soya beans into the East African market,” Ms Patel said.
With the entry of the Seba Foods into East Africa, farmers will now tap into the expanding markets in Southern Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, where Seba Foods has recorded a significant rise in demand for soya beans.
Besides, farmers will no longer have to incur heavy costs in ferrying their produce to markets beyond their borders for processing.
“The plant is strategically located to access these markets and is central to the business expansion into other markets in the region such as Rwanda and Tanzania,” Ms Patel said.
In coming years, Ms Patel said, the firm will double its capacity by investing in a second processing line.
This is expected to secure demand for soya beans from the growers in eastern Uganda and western Kenya.
“The project’s technical support to farmers will also give an important impetus for further growth and development of the soya beans supply chain in Uganda,” Mr Bitature told The EastAfrican.
Based in Dar es Salaam, Export Trading, one of the project’s proponents, is the largest East, Central and Southern African agro-processor and warehousing company.
It trades in commodities such as maize, millet, rice, pigeon peas, cashew nuts, chick peas, cocoa, cow peas and sorghum.
Currently, it moves over 1.2 million tonnes of commodities annually with a turnover of $420 million.
