I like Ugandan fruits especially Pineapples, Jack Fruit, Sugar Bananas, Mangos and Avocados. As anyone who has ever visited Uganda and tested some of these fruits and others can testify, specifically Uganda’s pineapple is extraordinary sweet and juicy. Whenever I am in the UK like now, I miss these fruits. Most of the small pineapples I see in UK supermarket shelves are from Latin America but they are not as big or sweet or juicy like the ones I am used to in Uganda.
I at first always wondered why I cant find my favorite Ugandan Fruits and Vegetables in UK’s big supermarket chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison, Asda and others, until I was told that Ugandan fruits and vegetables always fail to pass UK’s strict rules on plant health, Maximum Residue Levels (MRLs), and contaminants.
Pesticides are widely used in Uganda because quiet often, it is the only way to protect crops from various types of pests which can be a major threat to the lifeline of local farmers. Farmers also are left free to misuse pesticides because of weak regulatory enforcement and guidance by Government.
Another reason why Uganda’s fruits and vegetables find it hard to reach the shelves of big supermarkets in the West is because Agriculture is dominated by small scale subsistence farmers. Most of these small scale farmers have no modern equipment and possess very limited farming techniques resulting most times in their production of crops which cant pass UK/EU’s strict quality tests.
WAY FORWARD:
The untapped potential in Uganda’s Agricultural sector is enormous for interested foreign investors who maybe interested in setting up professional run commercial farms which can produce healthy crops for both domestic consumption and for export. There are many parts of the country where there is a lot of uncultivated but arable land which we can identify for anyone interested.
For instance, there is a lot of arable uncultivated land in areas near the soon opening Kabalega International Airport in Western Uganda. We can assist however is interested to identify and to lease land not far from this new Airport on good long term arrangements, where they can set up commercial farming projects aimed at supplying healthy fruits and vegetables to Oil & Gas companies nearby as well as for export market.
This new Airport will be operating within a large and fully serviced industrial park, where there will be cold storage facilities. Good thing the Government constructed new good roads in the area purposely to serve the Crude Oil Industry.
In my view setting up a commercial farm near this new International Airport in Uganda, an area near the Oil region where thousands of workers are based, makes a good business case for interested foreign Agriculture investors. The expected numerous Cargo Aircraft which will be bringing equipment to be used in Uganda’s Oil & Gas fields can be useful in taking agricultural produce to foreign markets.
