Upland Rice Millers processes rice on behalf of farmers in the region who execute the marketing and selling. They package the processed rice as per farmer’s specifications. The company also acts as a training centre for rice growing in Africa where they train farmers and stakeholders in the whole value chain on Resource efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP). From previous projects, thirty thousand out growers have been trained and provided with basic machinery training including weeding machines, moisture monitoring machines, weighing scales, shears, etc. This has lead to an increase in production figures over the years from 1,000 tons to 10,000 tons.
In the SWITCH Africa Green supported project, Upland Rice Millers participated in bilateral meetings with 35 other enterprises in Eastern Uganda and local district officials in July 2016 on Industrial Symbiosis. During these meetings, synergies among trained enterprises were identified (Upland rice was one of the identified companies for synergies).
After training supported by SWITCH Africa Green, the management replaced the boiler in the drying machine from diesel to biomass based i.e. rice husks. Rice husks have also been marketed after training in the Industrial Symbiosis project. The husks were initially considered a waste and disposal was a problem where they were piled outside the milling room which broke the fence due to the large volume (see photo). After the Industrial Symbiosis project training, the management has been able to sell the husks and also use some of them for the new boiler. This has lead to significant energy savings.
