I have often heard the sensible sounding goal of “adding value to local resources” as a base for enterprise development. However, some of my own experiences with small enterprise and the recent story below from Uganda seem to contradict this.
(click image for full story online)
The first product in the New Vision story is about a Ugandan company that imports mangos concentrate from India. This seems weird as Uganda is a large mango grower and many countries in West Africa (see Mali’s Mangos) battle to use excesses. But the story makes it clear that the mangos available in Uganda do not have the same flavour as the imported pulp. Juice processors also need to produce their products the year round, so are reliant on storage which makes concentration almost a necessity.
I had a similar experience at two small scale community projects in Limpopo Province (South Africa). They were set up to produce fruit purees, but were unable to produce the quality demanded by the market as they were relying on whatever fruit was available.
The other materials which the story indicates as being in short supply compared to the food processors’s demand are tomatoes, passion fruits, pineapples, wheat and chillies, millet, banana.
The writer of the report proposes that a government supported strategy focussing on
- making inputs to the industry accessible and affordable
- sourcing and developing of markets for the industry
- developing interconnected sub industries
I can only say all this appears very unlikely to me – I must be getting the wrong information! Uganda can’t be short of bananas! can it? The article talks about potentially viable businesses where markets are in place. Surely government doesn’t have to do everything for them – if so I suspect they are actually non viable business and doesn’t deserve government to pump money in.
Somebody help me out. What is the real situation are there opportunities going to waste? Email me!
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