By Gloria Nakiyimba
Agribusiness Company Grain Pulse limited has developed crop specific blended fertilizers to improve crop productivity. This is the very first company to produce such fertilizers in the country.
Fertilizer blending is balanced nutrition for crops making sure farmers increase their yields and productivity.
The Company has developed 14 top blends for 14 crops so far. The crops are Maize, tomatoes, Irish Potatoes, barely, wheat, millet, coffee, banana, rice, cassava , sun flower et cetara.
Hannington Karuhanga the Chief Executive Officer Grain Pulse says, “We are involved in fertilizer blending, meaning we are giving the right fertilizers for the right crop. Our installed capacity is 300,000 tones of fertilizer blends. It is probably the biggest “ .
Grain Pulse partnered with K+S a Germany company that supplies fertilizers direct from the mines in Germany and blended for specific crops in Mukono.
“We buy right from the mining, in this process of granulation, of blending we get the raw materials as opposed to the getting the finished product” he explained.
When farmers approach Grain Pulse for fertilizer, the company scientists will first test the soils of to know the nutrient deficiency in the soils , and for which crop.
“We’ve developed with top scientists at Makerere University working with NARO, and have 14 blends as of now. And the whole idea is to make sure that we increase their yields. There are cases where we’ve had a factor of four where small farmers holding an acre or half an acre have increased their yields four times” Karuhanga emphasized the benefits of using blended fertilizers
He is now appealing to farmers to embrace crop specific fertilizers which he says has been the missing link in farming.
According to Mr. Karuhanga farmers will be able to maximize their yields and earn from their hard work .
Green Pulse Company this week ended the Growth Uganda Project which it has been implement in northern Uganda under the Public private partnership with the government.
The projected helped farmers in Apach and Dokolo, as well as Mukono improve crop productivity and yields.
Growth Uganda project was able to do close to a thousand demonstration plots in those districts, created infrastructure for agro inputs, and conducted farmer education on how to improve productivity.
While closing the project, the Minister for Agriculture, Animal industry and fisheries Hon. Vincent Bamulanzeki Ssempijja appealed to farmers to produce quality grains and foods in order to benefit more from the international markets.
“This is a very important outlet for our products from the farms. Selling products in their raw forms is a very disastrous thing and of course it does not fetch anything for our farmers: he said.
Minister Ssempijja revealed Ministry of agriculture has embarked on soil suitability mapping to ensure that right crops are grown in a specific soil type in a bid to improve yields.
Green Pulse is also involved in fortifying grains bought from farmers. Their facility in Rwanyonyi Mukono district generates 10,000 tones of fortified grains an hour.