By Joshua Kato
There is no doubt that prices of selected basic, commonly consumed foodstuff rose to their highest ever so far in Uganda in 2023! However, this was simply a continuation of price rises that started in 2022 due to poor yields.
For example, maize flour maintained an average sh3,500! Ground nuts rotated at sh8,000 from sh5,500, Nambale beans rose to as high as sh5,000 from sh3,500 while prices of cassava and sweet potatoes rose by over 200%.
On the livestock side, while beef and goat meat remained stable, poultry products including eggs and chicken meat rose by over 20%. Of course, the increases affected both consumers and farmers.
However, overall, 2023 was again the year of the dairy and coffee sectors mainly because they reported more growth than 2022, both locally and internationally.
While the implications of the war in Ukraine that started in February 2022, hence increasing fuel prices, production of key foods like maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes and ground nuts had been low overall, especially during the first season of 2023. This partly contributed to the price increases.
Dairy sector growth
In 2023, milk once again proved that it is more than a white liquid that nourishes people`s bodies. It was the money that wetted many farmers’ pockets, both directly and indirectly.
No wonder, the top three spots of the 2023 Vision Group best farmers’ competition were taken by dairy farmers. And overall, out of the 13 winners, 10 of them owned at least a dairy cow.
On September 11-15, 2023, the country hosted the African Dairy Conference on. Hosted by the Dairy Development Authority, the conference attracted delegates and exhibitors from all over the world. This was another testimony to the growth of the dairy sector.
Minister without Portfolio, Kasule Lumumba who represented the President at the conference reiterated the undeniable growth of the dairy sector.
“We all realize that the dairy sector has had an impact on fighting poverty, but we can make it even more impactful,” she said.
Delegates at the conference pointed out that, a few years ago, all powder milk that was sold in supermarkets was imported from Kenya and beyond. Today, the shelves are dominated by locally processed powdered milk.
A few years ago, it was difficult to find quality locally processed yoghurt, but today, over 20 companies are making it. This is the same with cheese, ghee and pasteurised flavoured milk. Some of these processors are exhibiting on the sidelines of the conference.
According to Samson Mpiira Akankiza, the DDA Executive Director, 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.
“In the past five years (2018-2022), our production has increased from 2.51b litres to 3.85b litres. Our annual growth rate average is 11%, which is among the highest of any sector in the economy,” he says.
He says out of the 3.85b litres of milk 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 products including pasteurised 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 a number of 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 for it to retain its nutritional and palatable qualities.
“We have 198 registered roadworthy milk tankers of different capacities, that is, 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000L operating countrywide. At farm level, milk handling containers from the farms include food grade milk cans,” he told the conference.
As a sign of growth, there are 160 (Large, Medium, small scale and cottages) licensed entities processing milk Our key export market is comprised mainly of: EAC regional countries, Common Markets for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Malaysia, India, USA, Japan, Oman, United Arab Emirates (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 product is milk powder.
During the conference, Frank Tumwebaze, Minister of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), set a target of at least 20bn litres of milk produced in the next 10 years. DDA says this will be the target starting in 2024.
“This can be achieved if the country adopts better genetics,” says Hamid Rutaro, Technical Manager, Africa for URUS, one of the livestock genetics groups that promoted modern genetics in 2023.
Rutaro pointed out that the country now has genetics that can produce dairy cows that yield an average of 25 litres per day.
“You just need two million dairy cattle with the improved genetics to produce this milk,” he said.
As the year ended, the country had about 16 million cows, out of which 2.2 million are improved.
Coffee aroma rises
The biggest achievement for the coffee sector this year was hosting the African Coffee Conference.
“This was a great opportunity for Uganda to showcase the coffee sub-sector successes,” Dr Emmanuel Ilyamulemye says.
In May 2022, coffee-producing countries in Africa witnessed a historic moment when the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) members signed the Nairobi Declaration to have coffee anchored as a strategic commodity under the African Union in harmony with its Agenda 2063.
According to Ilyamulemye, the Nairobi Declaration ushered in a new era with coffee earmarked as a priority commodity for Africa’s economic revolution.
“The Nairobi Declaration support coffee-producing countries such as Uganda to address several challenges the sector has grappled with such as market access, technology, value addition, and research,” he says.
The meeting in Uganda worked to actualise solutions to the many challenges coffee farmers have. Indeed, on the field, production of coffee and total earnings increased in 2023.
According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), Uganda earned US$952.24m (about sh3.5 trillion) from coffee exports in the last 12 months, up from $883.30m (sh3. trillion) in the previous coffee year.
“This represents an increase of 6% and 8% in quantity and value, respectively,” UCDA stated.
UCDA also said 82% of the total volume was exported by 10 exporters, out of 50 companies which performed during the month of October compared to 80% in September 2023.
Coffee exports in October alone amounted to 470,080 60-kilo bags, worth US$78.96m (about sh296b) and this comprised 410,113 bags of Robusta valued at $66.87m and 59,967 bags of Arabica valued at US$12.10m.
“This was an increase of 3.35% and 18.32% in quantity and value, respectively compared to the same month last year. By comparing quantity of coffee exported by type in the same month of last Coffee Year (October 2022), Robusta increased by 3.42% and 26.25% in quantity and value respectively, while Arabica exports increased by 2.86% in quantity but decreased by 12.18% in value,” UCDA said.
UCDA explained that coffee export performance was higher than the previous year on account of a good crop harvest in south-western Uganda and the prevailing good prices on the global scene which prompted exporters to release their stocks. In 2023, UCDA’s continued target is to match towards the 20 million bags by 2030.
South Sudan aflatoxin maize saga
While in 2022, Kenya rejected some Ugandan maize due to aflatoxin, in 2023 the saga moved to the Northern border with South –Sudan. What started as a ‘simple’ quality check took weeks!
Between May and July 2023, 90 of 450 trucks transporting maize from Uganda to South Sudan were impounded by the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards at the Nimule-Elegu border post on allegations that the quality of some of the maize was poor.
The trucks were loaded with maize grain and flour as well as wheat. On allegations of failing to pass the test for contamination with aflatoxin, the trucks were retained at the border. Richard Sserwadda, the chairperson of the National Millers Association, said the cargo was worth over sh8b.
Results from a test done by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) on the disputed loaded grain found out that at least 50% was infected by aflatoxin, hence not fit for human consumption.
The infected food was due for destruction by the time of filing this story, hence making big losses for the traders.
According to Dr Achileo Kaaya, from Makerere University who has done extensive research on the effects of poor postharvest handling on cereals and grains, aflatoxins are poisonous by-products of the growth of the moulds Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus on cereals and grains.
Eventually, several meetings were held between the two countries leaders, with the Ugandan group led by Odrek Rwabogo, the Entreprenuer and Special Advisor to the President on Trade.
An agreement was reached to release the impounded trucks and stringent testing of the maize was carried out before the goods were allowed back to Sudan.
Stakeholders like the Grain Council of Uganda and the agriculture ministry are also working to further sensitize farmers in reducing incidences of aflatoxin.
Construction of modern feeds plants
2023 saw the construction of two state-of-the-art livestock concentrate processing facilities in the country. One is owned by Nutreco, running as Tunga in Ntinda, Kampala, while the other is owned by Koudjis Nutrition BVC in Njeru, Jinja.
Both companies originate from Netherlands, who are also sponsors of the Best Farmers competition and the Harvest Money expo While both facilities are set to improve nutrition for livestock, they are a positive reminder of how impactful the best farmers’ competition has been over the last 10 years.
For example, the owners of Tunga first visited the country to attend the expo.
“They came and attended the Harvest Money Expo in 2017 partly to explore how they could deeply invest in the livestock feeds value chain in Uganda,” Dr Samuel Ssewagudde, Commercial Manager, Tunga Nutrition says.
The group, after realizing the huge potential of the livestock feeds industry in Uganda started looking for a facility to start processing the feeds here in Uganda.
In February 2022, the first vital announcement about the new partnership was made. Nutreco had acquired the redundant UNGA Millers facility and was to renovate it into a state-of-the-art concentrates factory.
“Nutreco is delighted to announce that it has received regulatory approval for its partnership with Unga Group Plc, to form two joint ventures which will help meet the growing demand for high-quality protein in the East African Region,” the announcement said.
This announcement furthers Nutreco’s commitment to its purpose of Feeding the Future and will strengthen the footprint of its business lines, Trouw Nutrition and Skretting, in East Africa – a core focus region as it continues to expand globally. Trouw Nutrition produces Hendrix livestock feeds.
According to Ssewagudde, the partnership involves open-ended, Nutreco-managed joint ventures with two indirect subsidies of Unga Group – Unga Farm Care (EA) limited in Kenya, and Unga Millers (U) Limited in Uganda. Both ventures were named Tunga Nutrition, taking inspiration from the Kiswahili word Tunga, meaning “to compose”.
Tunga Nutrition Kenya will increase production capacity at its jointly owned fish feed plant in Nairobi to commercialise these products under Skretting and Fugo brands. The Tunga facility will be launched in February, shortly before the 2024 Harvest Money Expo.
Koudjis BV in Jinja
In 2016, a group of Best farmers visited the Netherlands as part of their winning prize. One of the facilities that they visited was the Koudjis Nutrition BV plant in Ravenestein, Netherlands.
A bond was thus created. Years later, Koudjis, who eventually became one of the leading livestock feed sellers in the country is constructing a feeds factory in Buikwe district near the bridge.
According to the company, the facility has been set up with Dutch technology. This will not only bring feeds nearer to Ugandans but it will also offer vital jobs to about 100 Ugandans.
“In January 2024, we shall start recruitment of Ugandan workers mainly from areas of Jinja, Iganga, Buikwe and Mukono [districts],” Verhoek said.
Construction of the Njeru facility started in June. He pointed out that worldwide, Koudjis operates in over 70 other countries, employing about 14,000 workers worldwide.
Verhoek further explained that the facility will also require raw materials, especially of grains like soya produced by Ugandans.
“The facility will run mainly on processing grains into feeds. We, therefore, need a lot of these grown by Ugandans across the country,” he said.
He however emphasized that the produce must be of the highest quality.
“This Jinja factory will maintain the same high standards as we have across the world. Therefore, the raw materials that we shall use must also be at that level,” he said.
Next week, innovations in agriculture 2023
