By HERBERT MUSOKE
Fish farmers have a reason to smile after De Heus Animal Nutrition established a factory in Uganda to manufacture feeds.
During the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the fish feed plant at Model farm village in Njeru municipality in Buikwe district, Bon Tjeenk Willink the general manager De Heus Uganda, said the company has been in Uganda since 2018 with its imported brand of Koudijs which is the market leader in most livestock feeds.
He says that De Heus is a Dutch family-owned animal nutrition company established in 1911 and is a global top-10 feed supplier with sales in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Latin America and the leader in tilapia feeds.
“We plan to build a 50,000-tonne capacity fish feed state-of-the art plant here in Njeru-Buikwe district, that will not only serve Uganda but also East Africa and beyond which is going to be the first aqua feed plant in Africa,” he says.
He explains that the plant will produce feed for tilapia and other species as demanded by customers by the second half of next year.
It is a known fact that fish is a critical source of protein and is widely consumed in Uganda.
He however, explains that with the increasing population and stagnating wild catch, aquaculture has steadily been growing. He adds that Uganda is exceptionally well-positioned for aquaculture with large lakes at the right temperatures for fish farming all year-long and what farmers need is a reliable feed.
According to Bon, feed is the most critical element in fish farming that needs to be easily available, of good and consistent quality and be offered at an affordable price.
“Currently, fish feed in Uganda is imported which makes the supply chain inflational and expensive. With this plant, we will help farmers by providing healthy nutrition and sustainable fish feed for the whole of East Africa and we hope that with locally produced feed, the industry will gradually grow,” he says.
Theo Smackbraak, the De Hues manager for Middle East and Africa, says besides feed, they will look at the whole value chain to identify other areas they can get involved in. Apart from fish farmers, crop farmers should also jubilate as the plant will buy maize, soya, cassava and other raw materials needed from them.
This will make the local value chain work and make Uganda less dependent on imports. He however says that they will be working with farmer cooperatives to secure development and increase yield in their business. The plant will create over 10,000 jobs for the local people along the fish farming value chain.
“We want to make this a model farm for future plants and aim for zero emissions. Therefore, we won’t only be looking at improving the incomes of the farmers but also conserving the environment,” he says.
Yasin Kyazze the Njeru municipality mayor, thanked De Heus and the Netherlands for locating the plant in their locality and asked them to consider the locals for employment as it will help in the transformation of the living conditions of the people.
He adds that, it is a known fact that fish is a critical protein and is widely consumed in Uganda. “Open water nearly covers 20% of Uganda’s surface which has developed the fishing industry significantly with over 1.5 million people working directly in the fishing sector with over 5 million people deriving their livelihood from fishing,” he says.
Fish feed has been pulling us down
Robert Osinde, the president of the Uganda Commercial Fish Farmers Association, expressed the farmers’ gratitude towards the construction of this fish feed plant saying it is going to help them to cut the cost of production which has been increased by the feed cost.
“Feed contributes accounts for 60%-65% of the cost of production and of late it has risen to 80%. This is because for all the years, we have been importing fish feed from Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Vietnam and other countries which makes the feed expensive,” he says.
According to Osinde, importing a tonne of fish feed, rose from $750 to $1,500 since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Buikwe being the centre of fish farming as the majority of fish farmers are located in Buikwe, producing feed locally will help reduce the feed cost thus increasing productivity and profitability of our farmers,” he says.
He also says that with the low cost of production, Uganda’s fish will become competitive at the regional markets since 80% of the catch is sold in Congo, Rwanda, Kanya, South Sudan and other countries.
Uganda will benefit more from the Dutch
Uganda’s ambassador to the Netherlands, H.E Mirjam Blaak Sow, is optimistic that Uganda will benefit much from the relationship with the Netherlands tapping in its expertise and technological advancements.
“The Netherlands being the second largest agriculture country in the word, Uganda can benefit a lot from working with the Dutch investors. These people are thinking a lot for us as Uganda and I hope working with them will bring advancement to Uganda’s economy through the agricultural sector,” she says.
Blaak called upon Ugandans to engage in growing crops that will be needed by the plant especially maize and soya as the plant will need hundreds of thousands of tons to keep running throughout the year.
The Netherlands support Uganda’s transformation
The aquaculture plant that will be constructed targets booming sectors in East Africa as the livestock and aquaculture sectors are growing in the region, according to Dr. Karin Boven the Netherlands Ambassador in Uganda.
“The most important goal of the Netherlands embassy to Uganda is to make a contribution to Uganda’s agricultural transformation as laid down in the country’s vision 2040. Our food security portfolio, agricultural trade and investment activities; the harvest money expo and best farmer competition are all aligned to the vision 2040 and a clear sign of our commitment to the agricultural transformation agenda of Uganda,” she says.
She affirms that the Netherlands is ready to stimulate investments with advice, problem solving activities and support.
“We believe that farming is a business and with investing in commercial farming, family incomes increase, jobs are created, exports increase, profitable agribusiness pays taxes and the entire economy booms,” she says.
She says that investments like those of De Heus, are good examples of what is needed to add value to primary production and foster the agricultural transformation.
