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KAMPALA - The agricultural ministry has listed numerous lucrative ventures in Uganda which are attractive to foreign investors.

The move is aimed at exploring Uganda’s trade and investment opportunities, especially in Agro-processing and value addition, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Frank Tumwebaze, said Tuesday while meeting a group of investors from India.

He listed the ventures in the agriculture sector, including Dairy and Dairy products, meat and meat products, Value addition for coffee, Tea and Cocoa, Fish, organic fruits and vegetables, and investment in agribusiness, among others.

For Dairy products, Tumwebaze said: “We talk of three billion litres of milk at the collection centres. But our production is actually above 5bn litres of milk, and yet as a country, we consume only 800m litres of milk.”

This according to Tumwebaze presents investment opportunities for powered milk production, flavoured and UHT milk, butter and ghee production, Cheese, cream and ice cream and the establishment of collection and distribution facilities.

Additionally, Tumwebaze also identified meat products as another area of investment.

“For instance, the capacity of cattle is sh14.7m, goat is sh16.9m, sheep is sh4.6m, poultry is sh60m, and all with potential to more than double and ideal for meat exports, leather processing, animal feeds manufacture and commercial breeding, abattoirs of international standards,” explained Tumwebaze.

He made the remarks during the Uganda-Indian business delegation business meeting held at Kabira Country Club in Bukoto on Tuesday. The team included the Indian High Commissioner in Uganda, Upender Singh Rawat. 

Apart from the Energy Transition, Ravi believes Uganda has an opportunity for Indian investors to expand agriculture production. (All Photos by Juliet Kasirye)

The meeting attracted participants across the entire value chain in the agriculture sector,
and the business forum offered Uganda an opportunity to showcase enormous Trade and investment opportunities in the Agricultural sector.

The meeting aimed at identifying, engaging and attracting new investment leads from the Republic of India, and promoting Uganda as a preferred investment destination in Africa, as well as facilitating engagements between potential investors and Ugandan business people.

During the forum, Ugandan entrepreneurs interacted with potential investors from India, especially in agro-processing and value addition as well as technology transfer.

According to Tumwebaze, this business forum comes at a time when the Government is implementing the National Development Plan, (NDP) III, where the Agro Industralisation programme is key in delivering transformation and wealth creation for the majority of Ugandans.

The NDP III emphasises programme interventions aimed at increasing agricultural production and productivity, calling for additional value addition, and market access for regional and international markets.

Tumwebaze noted: “Uganda has registered a significant increase in the value of exports to the Republic of India market. For example, Uganda has accrued about sh3.3 trillion (€800m) in export value compared to about 2.9 trillion (€700m) registered by the European Union.”

According to Tumwebaze, this has been largely from the exports of coffee (214 metric Tonnes), fruits and vegetables (5.8m metric tonnes), flowers and fish products (27.5 metric tonnes). In the same way, the Republic of India has been exporting medical and pharmaceutical products, and motor vehicles among others.

Tumwebaze noted: “Uganda has registered a significant increase in the value of exports to the Republic of India market. For example, Uganda has accrued about sh3.3 trillion (€800m) in export value compared to about 2.9 trillion (€700m) registered by the European Union.”

“Our prayer is that the outcome of this business meeting spurs well-coordinated agriculture sector interventions for Trade and investments by both public and private sector, targeting increased production, processing, market access and minimising the link between Govt and private sector for both countries,” requested Tumwebaze.

For investors interested in doing business in Uganda, the state minister for Investment, Evelyn Anite promised to not only support them but also ensure their businesses prosper.

“We expect from you the knowledge transfer, you will have to train our Ugandans and then we do the value addiction here. It hurts me that all the list of most of the agricultural products the minister mentioned, we actually import them out of this country raw,” stated Anite.

According to the Secretary of Economic Relations at the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Dammu Ravi, Buy Uganda, Build Uganda, (BUBU) is a true reflection of the aspirations of nations.

“This is what exactly we do in India too. Do a lot of value addition in the sector. The basic economic sense of business complements each other. For instance, can you look at manufacturing by Indians in this country to collaborations because the scope for value-added manufacturing is enormous?” Ravi stated.

Apart from the Energy Transition, Ravi believes Uganda has an opportunity for Indian investors to expand agriculture production. You require enterprise, experience and endurance to be able to achieve success.

Ravi disclosed that “There is room and potential for doing projects in the infrastructure space by Indian companies. I think we can collaborate and do big projects in infrastructure expansion. Infrastructure and economic growth are such interlinked concepts.”

In his brief, Uganda Investment Authority, Director General, Robert Mukiza described Uganda as the best investment destination to make money.

In  addition to Tumwebaze's  investment list,  he named: commercial agriculture and value addiction in Agro business, infrastructure development, manufacturing, mineral, tourism, ICT and various services as other opportunities to explore.

“We are among the top ten industrial destinations in Africa. Uganda is moving and it is going to become an industrial hub for the region. We don’t want to export jobs out of our country, we want to add value to our raw materials here. This is one of the key destinations for industrial development,” explained Mukiza.