By Edgar R. Batte
The Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Gone are the days women waited for their husbands to fend for the family. Today, more women are becoming bread winners in homes. Ms Joeria Sekiyanja is a good example; she is just not a bread winner but her enterprise of growing the orange fleshed sweet potato has become a lucrative undertaking. This potato (commonly called Kipapali in Luganda) is rich in Vitamin A.
What began as a simple trial almost a decade ago has turned out to be a source of livelihood for many women in Nakatonya village, Luweero District. Today, under Bajja Basaaga umbrella group, a number of women many of who are widows can put food on the table, send their children to school and save a little with a savings scheme they set up to see themselves through hard times such as, when the weather patterns affect their season’s harvests.
Bagya Basaaga Orange Fleshed sweet potato (O.F.S. P) Growers & Processors is a literal statement to explain the humble beginnings of this group of women whose work continue to manifest as inspiration of this small village. But it is also an idea that began with a research study tour by National Agricultural Research Organisation (Naro) which visited the area with Makerere Child Health and Development Centre.
“We met and exchanged ideas. This was at the time children were poorly fed and suffered from kwashiorkor. We were advised that if we fed our children on specific foods, it would improve their condition,” Ms Sekiyanja recalls.
Researchers recommended foods like carrots, pawpaw and eggs but according to her, the orange sweet potato was easier to grow. “I found eggs a bit limited since they were expensive and it was risky rearing chicken. But for sweet potatoes, all we needed was good weather,” Sekiyanja explains as she bends over to check on her cookies in a locally made oven.
From this mud-spattered oven, a range of edible products are made which include cakes, crisps, pancakes, chapatti, doughnuts and ‘daddies’ among other products. Sekiyanja says that people have come to love their products which she says compete well with other products like pancakes, chapatti and crisps. Naro has constructed a kiosk for them in Matugga where they collectively sell their products.
Juice is also made from the orange sweet potato and according to Sekiyanja all they need to work on is packaging. They will also need a blender to crush the potato easily. Hadijah Nankabirwa, the group’s publicist, explains that from the sweet potato leaves, they have begun producing locally made soap, further cutting on their expenditure and they sell this soap amongst themselves.
“After harvesting, we pluck the leaves which we wash. We then boil them in water for about 30 minutes or so, producing a green mixture. We then cool the liquid in cups in which they turn solid. It is very good on skin,” Nankabirwa further explains.
They have also trained their daughters to make soap and bakery products. “We are for continuity and that’s why we have come up with the idea of training our daughter in everything we do. We want them to carry on from us,” Sekiyanja further explains. Each of these women has a piece of land on which they grow sweet potato but under their group, they do collective marketing. “This has enabled us fight hunger, feed our children as well as fight malnutrition,” Nankabirwa tells of the benefits of the growing sweet potato.
However, Sekiyanja has reaped more. “I have also been able to build rentals, buy a car, a boda boda as well as build myself a house,” Sekiyanja whose eldest son has just finished a degree in Agricultural Science at Makerere University says.
Bajja Basaaga members have started setting up a milling machine which will be refining orange sweet potato powder to feed to children as a direct source of Vitamin A. “To this powder, we plan to add maize and soya to make a full meal for children,” Sekiyanja adds.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Monitor.