Farmer impact

Empowering the farmers behind every packet of Tooke.

Tooke exists because Uganda’s banana-growing communities needed a better market, lower post-harvest loss and a stronger value chain.

The problem BIRDC set out to solve

The problem BIRDC set out to solve

Smallholder farmers were losing value at both ends: low prices when they sold fresh matooke, and heavy losses when highly perishable harvests failed to reach market in time. Tooke turns that volatility into a more stable commercial pathway.

  • Up to 40% post-harvest loss on fresh matooke
  • Dependence on middlemen and low farm-gate prices
  • Limited access to processing, aggregation and better markets
Banana growing landscape around the BIRDC pilot plant
Community stakeholders meeting connected to Tooke and BIRDC
Community Processing Units as infrastructure

Community Processing Units as infrastructure

BIRDC’s supply model links growers into organised Community Processing Units so aggregation, basic processing, traceability and commercial coordination can happen closer to the source.

Traceability

Plantation to packet

Market logic

Fairer pricing and more reliable offtake

Training that changes unit economics

Training that changes unit economics

The farmer story is not charity. It is capability building. Agronomic support, better growing practice and stronger coordination improve quality, reduce waste and raise farm productivity.

Yield improvement target

10 → 70 MT/ha

Modern farming methods can move productivity from roughly 10 MT/ha toward 70 MT/ha in high-performing systems.

BIRDC team working with farmer and stakeholder communities
Organic practice strengthens the brand promise

Organic practice strengthens the brand promise

Partner farmers rely on long-standing organic approaches, soil health and low-chemical cultivation. That supports the Tooke position as a clean-label, naturally relevant food brand.

Community stakeholders with BIRDC BIRDC leadership meeting stakeholders Institutional users receiving Tooke products
Community, institutions and market relevance

Community, institutions and market relevance

Farmer impact matters more when the end market is real. Tooke connects rural production with visible institutional, community and commercial usage.

Support a stronger banana value chain

Every Tooke product helps reinforce a more resilient market for Uganda’s banana-growing communities.

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