Thanks Anthony, this is a very interesting post (and I appreciate your answer to my question on your previous post). I have a couple more questions if you have time to answer them:
Roughly what are the running costs of the plant, for instance electricity? Also, are there any other significant costs either you or the farmers would have to pay? For example, fuel to transport the grain from farms to the plant (I’m not sure how far away the farms are, or how much fuel costs in Uganda).
How long does the harvesting season last, and how many hours a day could the plant operate? I’m wondering what yearly capacity the 15 ton/hour capacity corresponds to.
Hi Roddy, thanks very much too for this message. Here are my answers to these questions:
1). Currently, our farmers are within a radius of about 40km from the UCF, and because the volume of their sorghum is still a bit small, it’s the UCF team itself that gathers all these farmers’ sorghum using a motorbike, and brings it to the UCF, from where we take it to Kampala.
We also have a dump truck at the UCF, and whenever the load we are going to carry is a bit big, we use this truck instead. Right now, all these costs (fuel, transport etc) are covered by the UCF, using the money that we raise through small online donations. We don’t charge our farmers for transport. Also, until now, we been paying our farmers the full price per kg that our buyers pay—without deducting any of it, because our farmers’ volume of produce (and income levels) are still small.
However, once we install our intended grain facility, the number of farmers taking part in our project is going to increase. Also, the volume of sorghum that individual farmers produce will increase, because the presence of this facility will be an assurance to local farmers of the presence of a ready market. Meaning, the income levels of individual farmers will change too.
So, once this facility is installed, we plan to use one of these two approaches (or both) in gathering our farmers’ sorghum: a) ask each farmer to bring their sorghum to our facility, or b) deduct Ugx100 ($0.03) per kg from the price that our buyers in Kampala pay for sorghum, which is very negligible, because, this year for example, Uganda Breweries has bought our farmers sorghum at Ugx 1,300/kg. Deducting Ugx 100/kg would still leave a farmer with Ugx 1200/kg.
That way, 1000 tons (or 1 million kg) would give our facility an income of Ugx100,000,000 ($27,778) each season, which could be used to cover expenses for gathering our farmers’ sorghum and ferrying it to Kampala; pay staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
Transporting 1,000 tons to Kampala, using an ordinary FUSO truck of 15tons, would require 67 trips to Kampala, and a single trip costs Ugx 600,000, meaning, Ugx 40,200,000 (US$11,166) for the 1,000 tons. From the total income of $27,778, this would leave us with $16,611 each season, for staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
2) How long does the harvesting season last, and how many hours a day could the plant operate? I’m wondering what yearly capacity the 15 ton/hour capacity corresponds to.
The harvesting season lasts about 1.5 months (or 45 days). If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum is still small, the facility will only have one 8-hour shift a day, meaning 120tons cleaned per day, or 5,400tons in 45 days (i.e., once planting season), and therefore 10,800tons/year.
If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum becomes big, we will have two 8-hour shifts a day, meaning 240tons/day, or 10,800tons in 45 days, and therefore 21,600 tons/year.
Also note:
Besides sorghum, this facility will also clean/grade crops like maize, beans, rice, millet, peas etc, meaning, even in those times of the year when we are having no sorghum, this facility will still have another crop it’s working on, enabling local farmers to diversify their incomes.
Thanks Anthony, this is a very interesting post (and I appreciate your answer to my question on your previous post). I have a couple more questions if you have time to answer them:
Roughly what are the running costs of the plant, for instance electricity? Also, are there any other significant costs either you or the farmers would have to pay? For example, fuel to transport the grain from farms to the plant (I’m not sure how far away the farms are, or how much fuel costs in Uganda).
How long does the harvesting season last, and how many hours a day could the plant operate? I’m wondering what yearly capacity the 15 ton/hour capacity corresponds to.
Hi Roddy, thanks very much too for this message. Here are my answers to these questions:
1). Currently, our farmers are within a radius of about 40km from the UCF, and because the volume of their sorghum is still a bit small, it’s the UCF team itself that gathers all these farmers’ sorghum using a motorbike, and brings it to the UCF, from where we take it to Kampala.
We also have a dump truck at the UCF, and whenever the load we are going to carry is a bit big, we use this truck instead. Right now, all these costs (fuel, transport etc) are covered by the UCF, using the money that we raise through small online donations. We don’t charge our farmers for transport. Also, until now, we been paying our farmers the full price per kg that our buyers pay—without deducting any of it, because our farmers’ volume of produce (and income levels) are still small.
However, once we install our intended grain facility, the number of farmers taking part in our project is going to increase. Also, the volume of sorghum that individual farmers produce will increase, because the presence of this facility will be an assurance to local farmers of the presence of a ready market. Meaning, the income levels of individual farmers will change too.
So, once this facility is installed, we plan to use one of these two approaches (or both) in gathering our farmers’ sorghum: a) ask each farmer to bring their sorghum to our facility, or b) deduct Ugx100 ($0.03) per kg from the price that our buyers in Kampala pay for sorghum, which is very negligible, because, this year for example, Uganda Breweries has bought our farmers sorghum at Ugx 1,300/kg. Deducting Ugx 100/kg would still leave a farmer with Ugx 1200/kg.
That way, 1000 tons (or 1 million kg) would give our facility an income of Ugx100,000,000 ($27,778) each season, which could be used to cover expenses for gathering our farmers’ sorghum and ferrying it to Kampala; pay staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
Transporting 1,000 tons to Kampala, using an ordinary FUSO truck of 15tons, would require 67 trips to Kampala, and a single trip costs Ugx 600,000, meaning, Ugx 40,200,000 (US$11,166) for the 1,000 tons. From the total income of $27,778, this would leave us with $16,611 each season, for staff salaries, electricity, equipment repair etc.
2) How long does the harvesting season last, and how many hours a day could the plant operate? I’m wondering what yearly capacity the 15 ton/hour capacity corresponds to.
The harvesting season lasts about 1.5 months (or 45 days). If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum is still small, the facility will only have one 8-hour shift a day, meaning 120tons cleaned per day, or 5,400tons in 45 days (i.e., once planting season), and therefore 10,800tons/year.
If the volume of our farmers’ sorghum becomes big, we will have two 8-hour shifts a day, meaning 240tons/day, or 10,800tons in 45 days, and therefore 21,600 tons/year.
Also note:
Besides sorghum, this facility will also clean/grade crops like maize, beans, rice, millet, peas etc, meaning, even in those times of the year when we are having no sorghum, this facility will still have another crop it’s working on, enabling local farmers to diversify their incomes.