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KAMPALA. With warm temperatures and two rainy seasons in most parts of the country to harvest multiple harvests, investors consider Uganda's agricultural potential to be one of the best in Africa.
Winston Churchill was so enamored of the land that he called the Pearl of Africa.
A document published in 2019 by the US government Export.Gov, which quotes figures from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), indicates that Uganda could feed 200 million people.
The report notes that more than 80% of the country's land is arable, but only 35% is cultivated.
Uganda produces a wide range of foods, including coffee, tea, sugar, livestock, poultry, palm oil, simsim, peanuts, cotton, tobacco, bananas, corn, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, millet, sorghum, cocoa, fruits and vegetables.
But the climate of the country is not the only one to give it a head start in the race for food production in the region. The director of the National Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI), corn breeder Geoffrey Asea, attributes part of the country's success to successful research systems.
He says research institutes are working with the private sector to provide farming technologies to grassroots farmers.
Seed systems for all crops are well supplied by more than 40 certified companies. Most of them grow corn and process seeds for farmers. There are also various processors across the country.
Asea says 1.2 million acres are devoted to corn and that the adoption of hybrid varieties by a greater number of farmers has brought the average yield to 3.5 tonnes per hectare. in 2018, compared to 2 tons in 2017.
Statistics from the Bank of Uganda, he noted, show that maize exports totaled $ 95.91 million (about 9.6 billion shillings) in 2017 and $ 106 million (10 , 7 billion shillings) in 2018, while beans yielded 99 million dollars (9 billion shillings), 84 million dollars (Sh 8.4 billion) over the same period.
Total exports to Kenya amounted to 719 million dollars (72.6 billion shillings) at the end of last year, against 551.06 million dollars (55.6 billion shillings) registered in 2017, with maize leading exports.
In addition to maize and beans, Uganda exported Simsim, pineapples, watermelons and eggs to Kenya in the second half of 2018. Simsim exports increased by $ 17.3 million (1, 7 billion shillings) in 2017 to 26.6 million dollars (2.7 billion shillings) in 2018.
Some of the maize is processed flour that the World Food Program (WFP) exports as relief to various countries in the region.
Another factor contributing to the increase in maize exports to Kenya is the growth of large mechanized farms that boosted production. A number of these farmers are based in the fertile north of Uganda.
Mr. Asea also noted that a massive awareness has led many farmers to adopt the best agronomic practices, from plowing to processing downstream of the crop.
Many policies in Uganda also favor agriculture. One, Operation Wealth, is a controversial initiative by which the government offers free fertilizer, seeds and seedlings to needy farmers.
The fight against the fall armyworm, the reduction of post harvest losses and the increased use of fertilizer should further increase yields.
In addition to production, Uganda also releases a large portion of its maize for export and poultry farming because of the diversity of its food menu.
Poultry farming in Uganda is very productive and profitable for a number of reasons.
The director of the Mbarara Agricultural Research and Development Institute, Halid Kirunda, said the cost of labor in Uganda in poultry farming was lower than in Kenya. Indeed, poultry feed, such as corn bran, is derived from corn, produced in large quantities.
There are other foods like sunflower cake, soybean meal and silver fish. Large volumes of fish are obtained from Lake Victoria. Uganda has a larger amount of fish than Kenya.
Last payment tomorrow: land prices in Kenya, which are higher than those in parts of the United States, are ruining livelihoods.
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