Rice, cassava, plantain, papaya – the cupboard is overflowing
Uganda is a green paradise with a bounty of crops. Agribusiness is now sweet temptation for investors

Unlike many of its continental counterparts, Uganda is blessed with rich soil and an abundance of water. Although the landlocked country has no coastline other than the shores of Lake Victoria, it has many rivers and lakes and nearly a fifth of its terrain is wetland – plateaus that are rimmed with the green peaks of the Rwenzori mountain range. This not only makes the country stunningly beautiful but these natural advantages, in tandem with a tropical climate and regular rainfall, create idyllic conditions for agriculture – and Uganda’s are considered among the finest in Africa.

Not surprisingly, the agricultural sector is dominant in the economy. It employs roughly 80 per cent of the workforce, represents more than a third of GDP and accounts for nearly all of Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings. Additionally, much of the country’s industry is related to the agricultural sector.

Uganda is Africa’s largest producer of coffee. Traditionally a high export earner for the country, today Uganda’s rich beans represents between 20 and 30 per cent of total export earnings. Fish - mainly the fresh water Nile perch and Nile tilapia from Lake Victoria - and fish products account for another 17 per cent. Other mainstays like cotton, tea, sugar cane and tobacco continue to generate their share of export earnings, while the export of non-traditional products, including vegetables, cut flowers, fruits, vanilla, silk and honey, is on the rise.

Although there exists a scattering of larger commercial farms in the country, most of Uganda’s produce is farmed by its more than 2.5 million small-scale farmers. There is also a great deal of subsistence farming in the country.

With the exception of cereals, Uganda’s staple crops are used primarily for domestic consumption and cover a wide spectrum from plantains, cassava, maize, millet and sorghum to sweet potatoes, peanuts, rice, wheat and Irish potatoes.

Coffee, tea (Uganda is second largest producer of tea in Africa after Kenya), cotton, tobacco and cocoa are the most important cash crops. The horticultural sector has posted promising growth over the last decade (Uganda is now the third largest producer of vanilla on the continent), and common products include chillies, asparagus and medicinal plants. The fresh cut flower industry has also taken off in recent years.

President Museveni has been behind various initiatives to increase value addition in the agriculture industry. His Plan for the Modernisation of Agriculture aims to empower local governments so they can boost production enhancing techniques. Main crops such as coffee, tea and tobacco have traditionally been exported in raw form but would earn more if processed and exported as finished products. Other underdeveloped industries in fruit and vegetable processing have enormous potential for value addition, such as the production of frozen juice concentrate from the country’s rainbow of tropical fruits, in particular, passion fruit, mango, pineapple and papaya.