By Prossy Nandudu
Livestock farmers in Uganda should prepare to export their beef to Serbia in the future to earn more following the launch of the Uganda Trade Hub in Serbia.
A kilo of meat in Uganda goes for about sh15,000 but when dried, processed, and sold in Serbia, would potentially earn a farmer up to $40 (about sh140,000) per kilo. This is according to Amos Tindyebwa, the chief executive officer of Fresh Cuts Uganda, a meat processing company.
Tindyebwa is part of Uganda’s delegation that witnessed the launch of the Uganda Trade Hub in Serbia’s capital Belgrade, by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Sunday.
He explained that dried meat is one of the many value-added products that the President wants to be exported as opposed to exporting unprocessed products.
The hub will be a marketing place for other value-added products such as ready-to-drink coffee, leather products, and art and crafts. Other items include food items like processed bananas, fresh flowers, fruits like pineapples, passion fruits, in addition, avocadoes among others.
Banana farmers are likely to earn sh50,000 from one processed bunch of bananas compared to the current sh10,000, according to nutritionist Prof. Florence Muranga.
“Through the hub, we shall be able to give farmers a premium and constant prices and that is what we have been looking for,” said Muranga.
Present at the launch were private sector and government officials including science and innovation minister, Monica Musenero, who said that the hub is a product of Uganda’s renewed focus on selling processed products as opposed to raw products.
“We have had little processing, the world has been receiving raw materials. In this particular hub, we are putting our foot in the export market for value-added items,” said Musenero.
Dr James Kanyije, the CEO of KK Foods, said the hub will act as a centre for getting orders for various fresh food items such as potatoes, avocadoes and fresh vegetables among others, adding that the hub will also act as a connection to eleven countries including those bordering Serbia.
Badru Ntege, a board member of the Private Sector Foundation Uganda, said the initiative is the beginning of a completely new approach to opening markets.
“The world is changing, and marketing has to change such a centre opens up a number of things like tourism, which is different from the way we have been doing business. It means that we need to turn round our businesses by focusing on quality to give the opportunity that there is demand coming along with the launch,” said Ntege, a member of the delegation.
