The Government has intensified inspection of fruits and vegetables to make sure they meet standards for export.
This was revealed by the Commissioner for Crop Inspection and Certification in the agriculture ministry, Paul Mwambu, during a seminar held at Golden Tulip in Kampala on Monday, August 29.
According to Mwambu, fruits and vegetables’ sector has been identified as key drivers to improve household incomes, and production of raw materials for agribusiness industrialization.
“We have increased inspectors at all the border posts in the country and a person has to pass the setup guidelines before exporting any product,’’ Mwambu said.
Uganda is enhancing the capacity of fruits and vegetable sector to comply with the phytosanitary requirement for export to the European Union (EU) high and regional markets.
Mwambu said the department of crop inspection is a government entity mandated with phytosanitary clearance to all the products exported into and from Uganda.
Uganda was reported to be the second largest producer of fresh fruits and vegetables in Sub Sahara by the University of Wageningen in 2019.
At the same time it is reported to have the highest number of interceptions of fresh and vegetables due to the harmful organisms in the European Union markets.
“I thanked the support extended by Standard and Trade Development Facility, Royal Netherlands Embassy for the grant extended to the ministry and the private sector,” he said.
He said the outcome of the project implementation will contribute to the quality of life and social economic transformation for Ugandans.
The Executive Officer Uganda Agribusiness Alliance Limited, Steve Hodges, said the idea of coming together was to overcome the challenges withholding the progress of agriculture in the country.
Hodges said they started looking at the value chain challenges, it was addressed by stakeholders using the platforms available.
He said they also addressed people in the commercial sector to see how they would overcome the bottlenecks.
