Farmers to benefit from border export zones

Sep 02, 2020

The government is to establish storage and light processing facilities, warehouses and other commercial structures where traders can easily conduct business.

AGRIBUSINESS | FARMING 

Farmers in Uganda will now have a chance to deal directly with their cross border customers under the Border Export Zones (BEZs) arrangement.

Previously, farmers have been complaining of being exploited by middlemen who would buy their items at a very low price and sell them at very high prices.

Under the planned arrangement of BEZs, farmers will be able to store their items in the established storage facilities at the border areas in different parts of the country as they wait for cross border traders from other countries.

According to the Minister of Trade and Investment, Amelia Anne Kyambadde, the government is to establish storage and light processing facilities, warehouses and other commercial structures where traders can easily conduct business.

She said the BEZs will also host other services providers like Uganda Revenue Authority and Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) among others, where traders will be able to process all their documents and also get the certification of their products, than traveling to Kampala.

She explained that this is aimed at positioning Uganda and harnessing regional market opportunities.

"This is going to create employment in the locations where the BEZs are located on top of promoting quality goods and promoting value addition," she noted.

"Farmers have been previously selling raw items and had to incur a lot of costs in transportation. This time we want them to take their items at the BEZs and store them in the warehouses or even process and package them at a small fee to sell quality products," she noted.

She added that this will improve post-harvest handling and reduce wastage of produce during transportation, processing and drying, promote compliance to standards, and reduce non-tariff barriers among others.

Government targets to develop at least 18 zones at strategic border areas and have already secured land in collaboration with the respective districts.

They include: Masafu in Busia 52.3 hec where they intend to construct warehouses and storage facilities, a border market, light processing facilities, commercial warehouse and other related facilities.

Katuna, in Kabale 238.8 hec (warehouse and other related facilities), Mpondwe in Kasese 6 acres (buildings for services such as banks, insurance, retail, hotels, recreation facilities, warehouse and related facilities), Lwakhakha in Namisindwa 27acres (border market) and Amuru 200 hec.

She said Kikagate in Isingiro and Ntoroko land has not yet been surveyed.

Addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Centre (UMC) in Kampala, on the progress of the project, Kyambadde said the construction works of various facilities is already ongoing in four BEZs and is expected to last for five months.

They include; Lwakhakha, Busia, Katuna, and Orabo in Koboko. The government is to construct a commercial building, extension of electricity, and other related facilities in Orabo.

She said Elegu land is still clogged and experts are developing a flood mitigation plan.

Kyambadde said some of the zones are expected to start operations early next year.

The project is partly funded by the European Union, under the Regional Integration Implementation Project (RIIP). 

She explained that the ministry of trade got Euros 1.26m (about sh5.5bn) under RIIP, through the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

The fund was used to conduct environmental impact assessments, and developed master plans, architectural designs, Bills of Quality and construction tender documents for Katuna, Lwakhakha, Busia, Oraba, Elegu and, Kikagate.

The second phase of the project was allocated Euros1.7m (about sh7.7bn) to develop start-up facilities on each of the BEZ sites as prioritized by the districts.

She said ministry finalised procurement of contractors to construct venture facilities at each site to attract more public private investments to the sites.

The government also secured $2 m from the World Bank under the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project (GLTFP) for the development of Mpondwe in Kasese and preparation of feasibility studies for Bunagana, in Kisoro.

"The procurement process for the development of Mpondwe BEZ is also ongoing and construction will commence in October," she added.

She said this is in line with the National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifesto and the National Development Plan to prioritise BEZs to improve trade and people's livelihood.

The minister noted that this will also reduce the cost of transporting goods by traders from Kampala to their respective countries since manufacturers will also be in the zones.

"It will also promote investment through Public Private Partnerships at the BEZs," she said.

Kyambadde noted that the full-scale development of all the 18 sites is scheduled for the period 2021/22 to 2029/30 in line with the project proposal currently before the development committee of the Finance Ministry.


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