According to Uganda Bureau of Standards (UBOS), the region remains a dominant producer of matooke in the country, but farmers are still grappling with low prices and post-harvest losses to the extent that a bunch of matooke goes for as low as Shs 3000.
The introduction of the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development /Banana Industrial Research and Development Centre (PIBID/BIRDC) at Nyaruzinga in Bushenyi District in 2005 to transform the matooke sector in the region from subsistence farming into a competitive commercialised industry through research and value addition had raised hopes, but 20 years down the road, farmers and leaders have not seen tangible impact on the ground.
The government has continued to fund this project to date at a tune of over Shs 200 billion.
Mr Aaron Turahi, the Isingiro District chairperson, said no matooke farmer in his area has ever benefited from this project.
‘Isingiro is the leading producer of matooke in the whole country, but if you find that as leaders we don’t know anything about this project, then there is a big problem. There is no lorry of matooke that has ever gone to that factory or any farmer who knows about its operations. I think there is a gap between the administration of the project and other stakeholders, he said during an interview on August 10.
He added that instead of the government continuing to inject lots of money into a project that cannot be delivered, it should support other areas to start their own value addition facilities.
‘If the government gave us our own value addition factory, I think farmers would have benefited so much. Farmers here continue to suffer with low prices; let us be supported to have our own value-added technologies instead of raising false hopes in a project that has remained a shadow,’ Mr Turahi said.
The Mbarara District Chairperson, Mr Hygiene Twongyirwe, said they read about the project in the newspapers because it has not created any significant impact in regard to banana production and value chain.
‘As leaders, we do not know what is happening at that place. We hear it was established to create a matooke value chain, but our farmers here continue suffering with low prices, as low as between Shs 2000 to 3000 during bumper harvests. They need to engage us, and we know what they are doing,’ Mr Twongyeirwe said.
The Member of Parliament for Bunyaruguru constituency Mr Cadet Benjamin, said PIBID is a good research and value addition project.
“At a scientific level, it’s a potential project and may be a potential one to solve the challenge of fluctuating prices of matooke, but I think like many other government projects, its managers lack entrepreneurial and marketing skills,” he said.
He added: “The products they claim to produce can attract high demand even on international markets, but where are they? Their outlets are most times closed and have the worst customer care. This is partly the reason they have not exploited the project’s full potential”.
Mr Cadet added that PBID prices are far below the market price and farmers prefer to sell matooke to other players in the market.
Mr Asaph Mugizi, the chairperson of Uganda Banana Producers Cooperative Union, also the Vice Chairperson of Mbarara District Farmers Association (MBADIFA) said the factory has not yet had any positive impact on supporting banana farmers.
‘For sure, matooke farmers are still facing the same challenges they have been facing over the years, mainly the low prices. A group of farmers around the factory might be benefiting but not the bigger Ankole region. Apart from lorries of matooke being seen heading to Kampala, you cannot see any heading to Bushenyi from some of the most banana-producing districts like Isingiro, Rwampara and Ntungamo,’ Mr Mugizi said.
He, however, said that the fact that they see on market some Tooke-branded products on the market, like cakes, flour and bread, remains optimistic that the challenges the factory faces will be addressed and farmers benefit.
Mr Robert Twesigye, a farmer from Kyangyenyi Matooke Growers Association in Sheema District, had hopes when the project was introduced in the area, but nothing much they have gained.
‘They came when the project was introduced. They sensitised us on improving production and skilled us on better matooke farming practices. Our production improved; some of us got loans to expand our acreage with the view of an already existing market. But they never came back; when we inquired, they told us the factory is still producing below capacity; it’s now almost twenty years old. At times we sell a bunch of matooke at Shs 2000,’ he said.
Mr Eldard Karakore, another farmer from Kyabugimbi, in Igara, Bushenyi District, appealed to the government to support their cooperative societies on value addition instead of continuing to invest in a project they believe will not help them.
‘We have strong banana cooperatives, and let the government support us with value-added technologies like making banana wine and banana flour instead of putting resources on one project that has failed to pay off,’ he said.
Ms Esther Atwiine, the Ntungamo District agriculture officer PIBID only raised farmers’ hopes to increase production, but they have not been assisted at all.
‘They mobilised farmers to form matooke associations and registered with the view that they would be supported, but it ended at that, and they are still grappling with low prices,’ Ms Atwiine.
But Mr Prosper Twebaze, the district chairperson of Bushenyi, said the project has registered some success.
‘This Factory has helped farmers in Greater Bushenyi through buying matooke from their plantations; it even employs so many people who work there as casual labourers. We are hopeful that in the future somehow it will bring more development because there is much innovation being done there’, Mr Twebaze said.
But Prof Florence Muranga, the executive director of PIBID, said the project is on track.
‘Since the project started, we have been able to improve the livelihoods of farmers; it has provided employment opportunities to the local people, and we have been able to develop the ‘Tooke’ brand,’ she said, though she could not provide us with some statistics, for example on the employment opportunities created.
Before adding, ‘The challenge is that when you are being funded by the government it at times what you are doing is turned into a political game, but we know that this project is a scientific project, not a political project. If you are doing nothing, people will not get concerned, but if you are handling a big project, everybody will want to poke an eye on it. With all the noise that has come around this project, the negative publicity you hear, we are on track’.
‘A lot has been done here; people are only looking at commercialisation. We have been undertaking research; we are now moving to the industrialisation phase, and we have started commercialisation but not yet on a full scale; this is an expensive venture where most of the critics have not laboured to understand what this project is engaged in,’ Prof Muranga added.
She said they already have some Tooke products like Tooke flour, Tooke biscuits and cookies, Tooke bread and cakes before explaining that a reason why some farmers are not benefiting from the project is that they at times demand higher prices for matooke.
Prof Muranga said another challenge they want the government to address is low banana production in the sub-region, which might not sustain the factory when it reaches full production.
‘When we get to full production, we will have no matooke; production of matooke is still low compared to what we will require. We are now telling the government to invest in supporting farmers engaged in commercial banana production. If the factory is to produce to its full capacity, it should supply farmers with irrigation facilities, fertilisers and extension services, to produce throughout the year and in larger quantities,’ she said.
The project has gone without accountability and transparency questions; for example, the Audit query report 2021/2022 raised issues of poor accountability, poor project management, and significant unverified expenditures.
But Prof Muranga said all they have been doing has been transparent and that some of the reports are intended to just frustrate the project and tarnish their image.
‘But we have nothing to hide; all that has been done here is public. We have a booklet detailing all this, and everybody can access it; you can get it if you want figures on what has been invested in and what it has done. Because we are a viable registered company. We are audited. All our figures are online. You can get it. So if you go online, other means of finance, you find all those figures you are talking about,’ Prof Muranga said.
Despite the same queries raised by different stakeholders, President Yoweri Museveni has always promised to support the project, for example during the recent Tooke run on June 20, 2026 in Ishaka-Bushenyi Municipality, said the project remains key in ensuring food security and transforming livelihoods.
‘Government is committed to continuing to support PIBID because its initiatives will transform communities and ensure food security. I thank Professor Muranga for matooke value addition strategies and research,’ the President said in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Thomas Tayebwa.