The government of Uganda has announced it will be selling their milk to Zambia. This is after Kenya who have been a key export market for Uganda’s milk, blocked the dairy product, among others citing poor quality, claims Kampala refutes.
The two neighbours have over the years been locked in intermittent trade spats over tariff and non-tariff rules, prompting intervention by respective ministers and sometimes heads of state. As a result, Uganda has been sourcing for alternative export markets outside of the regional bloc, the East African Community.
The Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Frank Tumwebaze, flagged off the first consignment of 50 tonnes of powdered milk destined for Zambia. The Zambian Coca-Cola Beverages Limited has made an order of 700 metric tonnes of powdered milk each year from Pearl Dairies Uganda.
“I congratulate Pearl Dairies Company for investing in a state-of-the-art processing plant with the capacity to process 800,000 litres of milk every day, and this will go a long way in supporting our farmers,” Mr Tumwebaze said.
Milk value chain
“People deny us market for our milk and dairy products on account of quality; we are ready to be inspected. Pearl Dairy is an example of one of the good investments. Let them come. Zambia sent us their inspectors here. That is why they were able to certify that this is the best product in the region for them to take,” Mr Tumwebaze added.
The minister said the government would also source markets for beans and maize, urging farmers to address quality issues.
“The milk value chain in Uganda is slightly ahead of other enterprises because the people in the business listen to the market dictates, so we need to follow up with beans and maize. This business of growing maize anywhere and handling it anyhow is an issue we need to look into seriously,” Mr Tumwebaze said.
The acting executive director of Dairy Development Authority, Mr Samson Akankiza Mpiira, said the government would continue to exploit other markets for Uganda’s milk and its products.
“We are also looking at alternative markets such that we do not rely on EAC alone. So milk to Zambia will help in many ways to reduce post-harvest loss because most of the farmers have not been milking in the evening and even those that milk, the buyers give them little price because only 33 percent of milk produced is processed,” he said.
