ARUA CITY MARKETS TO RECEIVE REFRIGERATION FACILITIES

Dr. Matia Mukama, a senior lecturer in the department of food science and technology under the faculty of science at Kyambogo University during the project launch at ABIZARDI.Photo//Erema

By Erema George

Arua City

Food Venders of Arua central market and Awindiri market in Arua city will soon regain hope from losing money due to the perishability of their stalk coupled with the lack of refrigeration facilities in the markets for quite decades.

The “cool-it project”, an initiative by food for Africa funded through the European Union has come to improve the perishable food value chain of the west Nile region through climate smart, low cost innovations to enhance food and nutrition security. This project will be implemented in collaboration with Kayambogo University and the National Agricultural research institute (NARO).

During the project launch at Abi Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute (ABIZARDI) on September 7^th, Dr. Matia Mukama, a senior lecturer in the department of food science and technology under the faculty of science at Kyambogo university noted that the project is a result of a research carried out in 2024 to evaluate the cold chain or the bulk refrigeration capacity within the major cities in Uganda. He hopes to see its sustainability in the region;

“Once we proof the working concept, the idea is we spread it to farms, to other markets and this will depend on what we do going forward. Ideally we want this to work because we don’t want to be one of the projects that comes into the community and when the funding is not available it dies out or becomes a ghost project. That’s why we want local ownership, local management so that at the end of the day we work out a model that ensures continuity and sustainability,” he narrated.

Once established, the cold chain facilities shall preserve perishable food stuff including vegetable, fruits, and animal products through refrigeration in bulk and extend their salable life span.

His worship Jackson Dratibi, the deputy mayor Arua city welcomed the project noting that, “What you have now brought us as a cooling system will preserve the life span of these (foods) to two weeks or three weeks until our people finish selling what is produced here. As the city deputy mayor who is the leader of business, what is happening is actually my business, if I see my people putting more money in their pockets because of this innovation, I will be the happiest deputy mayor.” Dratibi said.

His worship Jackson Dratibi, the deputy lord mayor Arua city speaking at the launch. Photo//Erema

The chairperson Arua central market, Herbert Odama hopes that the innovation will boost the income of the venders and enable them to serve their customers better;

“It is a very great opportunity for us, we as the end users, ewe have to embrace it because it’s going to help us in wastes we have in losing our goods, we are going to get profits which we have been losing through the rotting commodities, and we are going to sell quality to the end consumers.” Odama expressed.

 The chairperson Arua central market, Herbert Odama. Photo//Erema

Meanwhile Moses Biruma, the Director of ABIZARDI urged the leadership of the markets to protect the facilities once put in place;

“The leadership of the markets let us guard this jealously because we are not going to start putting the infrastructure independently,” Biruma warned.

According to food for Africa, global food production is increasing, yet over one-third is lost postharvest, threatening food security and fueling climate change. Low-income, food-deficit countries contribute 22% of global food loss, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups, particularly women engaged in perishable produce trade.

Inadequate cold chains are a major driver, causing losses of 526 million tons annually and reducing smaller holder incomes by 15%.

Uganda lags in cold chain shortage capacity; for instance, Arua city had no bulk cold facility in2024 despite evidence that refrigeration could save 144 million tones globally.

Objectively, the project will assess the post-harvest food losses in selected perishable food value chains in west Nile, co-create low-input off-grid food cooling technologies using locally available and test impact on shelf life in market setting and train and equip market venders on utilizing the developed low-input off-grid food cooling technologies.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis