BULAMBULI'S MAIZE MAZE: A Masterclass in Waste


Bulambuli is currently a verdant ocean of maize crops, promising yet another bumper harvest. This will inevitably lead to rock-bottom prices when selling to Kenya, bringing us right back to our favorite starting point: square one. This fateful loop plays out with the regularity of a broken record in this corner of Uganda, a place that could generously be called the nation's food basket, but yet could be the country's lifeblood as well. 

Let's crunch some numbers to appreciate the looming absurdity. If one acre yields 10 bags (100 kg each) of maize, and each kilogram fetches a sum of 600 UGX, then Bulambuli, with about 150,000 acres, should rake in a staggering 90 billion UGX. This, at their lowest farm gate price, eclipses the combined generosity of the Emioga and PDM projects combined, and could ostensibly promote household self-sufficiency. So why can't we live in a world where reality matches this statistical revenue?

If our leaders could muster the courage to advocate for silos and modern dryers, we might control market prices and grain quality, selling to better markets at more opportune times across East Africa. Such value addition could definitely bump earnings from 90 billion UGX to an eye-rolling 450 billion UGX. If we dream big and improve maize quality to meet European standards, the sky’s the limit. And we can prove this reality check better. 

Mentoring farmers in value addition might help us churn out more extruders to produce snacks like Gorrilloz, flooding the market with snack centers to rival our current maize mills and expanding our empire beyond East Africa.

The pressing question remains: who is plotting the future of Bulambuli, Uganda’s supposed regional food basket? The statistics above only scratch the surface of Bulambuli's 150,000 acres potential. If we can explore the  entire Elgon metropolitan region, we would crush poverty in a short time span. By harnessing natural resources like tourism, mining, and coffee, the eastern region could rise as an economic juggernaut.

Ultimately, everything hinges on the voters. We need leaders who will rouse us from our slumber, not those who dispense political sedatives.

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