KAMWENGE/KAYUNGA – A multimillion shilling project by the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADs) to equip dairy farmers with milk coolers has been marred by the delivery of faulty and incomplete equipment, leaving crucial post-harvest facilities idle and farmers counting losses.
This comes amidst a broader scandal where milk coolers worth UGX 631 million procured by NAADs, under a larger UGX 4.2 billion purchase, are reportedly lying idle across the country.
An audit of a specific contract, worth UGX 420,496,300 for the supply and installation of 22 milk coolers, has revealed critical deficiencies in at least three districts, despite the supplier having been fully paid the entire contract amount.
The affected cooperatives are struggling with the non-functional equipment, which was intended to boost milk preservation and market access.
In Kamwenge, the Biguli Barilsa Dairy Farmers received a 3000-litre milk cooler in January 2024. However, the generator meant to power the unit has never functioned. “Efforts to have the generator replaced have not yielded anything,” a report on the installation states, rendering the expensive cooler useless since its delivery.
The situation is similar for Bihanga United Producers Cooperative Society Ltd, also in Kamwenge. Their 3000L cooler has multiple defects. Farmers complain that the breezer—an in-built layer for excess milk—is impossible to clean, leading to unhygienic conditions and the growth of microorganisms. Furthermore, the cooler’s efficiency plummets when the milk volume exceeds 1,500 litres, and its generator shuts down after just 30 minutes of operation and leaks oil.
In Kayunga, the Kasokwe Dairy Farmers’ Cooperative Society Ltd has not even been able to start using their cooler. The supplier delivered a 3000L milk cooler but provided a smaller, incompatible generator, and the installation was never completed.
These three specific cases, each involving a 3000L cooler, highlight a failure in the procurement, delivery, and quality assurance process. With each unit costing an average of over UGX 19 million, the defects represent a significant waste of public funds and a direct setback to the farmers who depend on this equipment.
The discovery of these faulty coolers forms part of a larger problem, with officials confirming that milk coolers worth UGX 631 million from NAADs’ UGX 4.2 billion procurement are currently idle nationwide.
The affected farmer cooperatives are now calling for urgent government intervention to compel the supplier to rectify the defects and replace the faulty generators, demanding accountability for the funds already paid for non-functional equipment.
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