It is early on a Sunday morning and all roads are leading to the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) for the World Food Day celebrations.

Upon arrival at the Institute in Wakiso district, one is received by the colorful display of all food items processed form various crop commodities that are bred by Agricultural Scientists from all the research institute under their umbrella body the National Agricultural Research Organization (Naro).

As the reporter is moving from one tent to another scouting for information in a bid to write an article befitting the celebrations of the day, some of the commodities include cassava rich in vitamin A, rice with all yield and disease free attributes, orange fleshed sweet potato, purple flesh Sweet Potato, Beans rich in Iron and Zink, Orange fleshed Maize, vegetables of all varieties.

Others crops bred by scientists grown in Semi-Arid areas namely simsim, sorghum, millet, green gram, sunflower, ground nut varieties and banana, coffee varieties among others.

However the innovation by scientists at the National Agricultural Research Laboratories (NaRL) where they are processing East African Highland (Matoke) flour on large scale sparked a number of banana farmers with many gathering in their tent seeking for knowledge.

Background

The East African Highland banana commonly known as (Matooke) is one of the crops that is at in most parts of the country on both large and small scale.

It is one of the important economic resources for rural farmers in Uganda and the crop is grouped into types which include; nakabululu, muvubo M9 hybrid, kisubi, Nakitembe, Kiwangazi among others

Matooke is mainly grown in the western and central regions of the country including in West Nile in Zombo district.

Yusufu Mukasa a food Chemist and head Food Processing Technology and Incubation centre at NARL in Kawanda, explained the process of processing banana into flour for nutrition and export purposes and below are the details.

Banana flour processing research

Mukasa notes that farmers in the country will now smile because they will have ready market for their banana at his institute since banana flour production has kicked off on large scale

This follows research that now turns green bananas into flour which was initially done by Dr. Florence Muranga in conjunction with scientists at Makerere University who carried out the banana research, which spanned over a decade.

The research turned out to be that banana flour can be processed, dried and consumed as nutrition food for pregnant mothers, babies and persons with HIV/ Aids to improve on their immunity.

Scientists at NaRL carried out another research where discovered persons with HIV/Aids in Rakai district could be helped by processing nutritious banana flour and giving them to consume in porridge form

Statistical figures

Uganda is known as the Banana Republic of Africa that produces Ten million tons of bananas annually.

It is one of the leading income and revenue earning product for the Country and to the farmers growing the crop. In a publication by scientists from NaRL, it is stated that total of 173 people living with HIV/Aids were registered with Rakai Health Scince Project.

They were interviewed using structured questionnaire to determine the current contribution of banana to the household food security.

Nutrient intake were collected and food frequency questionnaire and experiments were conducted to determine the suitability of banana as food to boost the energy and nutrient intake.     

The formulation reached using the persons square method with target protein content of 15%.  The pilot test product , the nutrient enhanced banana powder was distributed to the participants. the supplement diet showed  that the participants health were boosted since the product contained Iron and Zinc

Banana flour processing at NaRL

Mukasa noted that as food scientists his team came up with sample extracts which were tested at the Laboratory to ensure the mixture is good for human consumption.

The scientists teamed up with private food processing company namely Kalida Foods who service of the technical equipment and quality support at the food processing in NaRL to produce banana flour on large quantity.

The team is supplying and selling the products to patients in hospitals, rural communities where malnutrition level is high. They are also exporting it to USA, Nigeria and Norway, This initiative started in 2021.

The team purchases banana clusters from farmers in Mbarara, Busehenyi, Kyejojo, Masaka, Bushenyi and Insingiro among others.

Once the clusters are delivered at NaRL,, a group of women and youth have been employed to peel the banana and this is after the clusters are washed clean with water.

The peeled banana is then washed in food in food grade solution called Meta Bisulphite to maintain its colour.

It is the sliced with automated slicing machine and the thickness must be 5ml to maintain good drying

Once this is done it is the taken to grinding mill to get banana flour ready for packaging. These Slices are put on trays which have holes to enable water to drip and they are loaded in the drier which heats at 60 degrees Celsius.

It has dry in 24 hours to ensure the nutrient is maintained . The required moisture content is 12% and it is left to cool before it is taken for milling to get fine flour. The team is able to mill 1 ton of banana flour per day and these are packaged in 2kg. It sold Shs10,000 in the local markets and supermarkets but the export price Shs50,000 .

Qualities  

The flour is gluten free, it contains some percentage of starch, protein, fibre and potassium good for human consumption.

The scientists recommend it for bakery industries who are making confectionaries such as bread, cakes, biscuits and waffles among others including baby foods for making porridge. It can be mixed with millet flour, soybean flour, maize flour among others.

The product apparently is being sold in Super Markets in Kampala and surrounding districts.