By Joshua Kato
According to Samson Akankiza, the Executive Director of Dairy Development Authority (DDA), the Uganda dairy sector has grown exponentially over the years and its products continue to gain increased demand and consumption within and beyond Uganda’s borders.
He says that the fast growth has also created more investment opportunities for stakeholders.
Akankiza was speaking during the 16th African Dairy Conference and Exhibition, currently taking place at Hotel Africana, Kampala.
“In the past five years (2018-2022), our production has increased from sh2.51b litres to currently sh3.85b litres. Our annual growth rate average is 11%, which is among the highest of any sector in the economy,” he says.
He says that out of the 3.85b litres of milk currently produced, 80.2% (2,566,400,000L) is marketed, 19.8% (633,600,000L) is consumed at the farm, 66% of the marketed milk is sold unprocessed (1,693,824,000L) of which 10% (169,382,600L) is sold door-to-door (homes) and 56% (1,333,886,400L) is sold at sales outlets.
34% of the marketed milk is processed (872,576L) into various milk and milk products including pasteurized milk, yoghurt, UHT milk, cream, ice cream butter, ghee, cheese, milk powder, casein, whey powder and butter oil.
He said that milk collection and bulking has equally improved tremendously with several players such as government, dairy cooperatives, traders, processors and private individuals continuously investing in cold chain infrastructures.
Cold chain infrastructure ensures that the milk is kept at an optimum temperature that enables it to retain its nutritional and palatable qualities.
“We currently have 198 registered roadworthy milk tankers of different capacities mainly: 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000L operating countrywide. At farm level, milk handling containers from the farms include food grade milk cans,” he told the conference.
There are 160 (Large, Medium, small scale and cottages) licensed entities processing milk. Our key export market is comprised mainly of EAC regional countries, COMESA, SADC, Malaysia, India, USA, Japan, Oman, UAE, Nepal, Syria and Bangladesh.
The top exporters include Vital Tomosis Dairy Limited, Jesa Farm Dairy Limited, GBK Dairy Products Limited, Birunga Dairies (U) Limited, Brookside Limited, Amos Dairies limited, Pearl Dairy Farms Limited, Lakeside Dairy Limited and Rainbow Dairy (U).
The most exported products include milk powder, yoghurt, cheese, butter, ghee, butter oil, UHT milk, casein and whey protein powder.
Opportunities in sector
Akankiza pointed out that, however, Uganda provides probably the greatest potential for investment in the dairy sector in the world today, especially in the following areas.
Among these include establishing Milk Collection Centers (MCCs), much more investments in cold chain infrastructure to mitigate post-harvest losses is required, milk road tankers as the recommended means of milk transportation for long distances, investment in cleaning in place (CIP) equipment for milk road tankers.
“Opportunities still exist in areas of breed improvement such as embryo transfer, importation of improved stock and Artificial Insemination to further increase milk production,” he said.
Others include farm input supplies, lab consumables and reagents, provision of dairy equipment and maintenance services, provision of dairy market information and animal waste/by-product conversion.
“There are still opportunities for conversion of animal waste into bio-fuels; hides and horns, as well as leather,” he said.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Hon. Justine Lumumba Kasule, Minister for General Duties – OPM (3rd right), Agriculture Animal Industry and fisheries Minister Hon.Frank Tumwebaze (2nd right) ,the Minister of State for Animal Industry Hon. Lt. Col (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama (forth right) and Samson Akankiza Mpiira, the Executive Director Diary Development Authority (right) on an inspection tour of the stalls at the exhibition after the opening ceremony of
the 16th Africa Dairy Conference & exhibition at Hotel Africana on Tuesday 12th September 2023
Photos by Mpalanyi Ssentongo
