LIRA – Once, farmers who extracted oil from cottonseed dominated Lira. They have now switched to simsim, sunflower an, to a limited extent, groundnuts for oil. The change followed the collapse of the cotton industry in the 1970s.

Today, Lira is the leading district in Uganda to supply sunflower. Oil millers have mushroomed in this sprawling municipality that is quickly becoming the business hub of the war-ravaged northern Uganda. The millers buy the seed and crush it into oil, before selling it to consumers.

A stroll around the town, now home to hundreds of displaced people, reveals that at least ten small industries are engaged in oil milling. The growing demand from the neighbouring districts has meant that where once there were two oil millers, there are now 22.

The most prominent ones include Akonykori, New Moroto, Adoma, Nyanza and Guru Nanak. Akonykori Company Ltd, located 6km from Lira on Kitgum Road, are the makers of Golden Flower cooking oil. It is the pioneer oil milling company in Lira.

Source: Daily Monitor