Agricultural sector contribution to national economy is strong – Ssempijja

Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) Minister, Vincent Ssempijja, says the sector contribution to the national economy still remains strong as the country starts on the 2021-2026 manifesto implementation.

While speaking at the OPM auditorium on Monday in a review of his sector’s performance in the last 5 years, attributed the strength in the economy to the fact that it is the biggest employer of Ugandans.

This can be confirmed by the 2014 Population and Housing Census figures which indicates that close to 80% of the households in the country are involved in agriculture.

He says, between FY 2015/16 and FY 2019/20, the sector contribution to national GDP averaged 24%.

On top of this, Ssempijja says Agriculture sector also contributed 23.5% of the GDP and registered improved growth rates from 2.8% in FY 2015/16 to 4.4% in FY 2019/20 while the value of agriculture exports increased from USD 1.326 billion to USD 1.69 billion in FY 2019/20 representing a growth of 27% in the past five financial years.

Prior to the 2016-2021 manifesto, MAAIF committed to increase production and productivity of agricultural commodities and enterprises; increase access to critical farm inputs; improve access to markets and value addition and strengthen the quality of agricultural commodities; and to strengthen the agricultural services institutions and also create an enabling environment for the sector to grow, among other areas.

According to Ssempijja, to ensure farmers’ access to quality inputs, the Ministry initiated pre-delivery seed quality tests of all input dealers. He added that prior to their delivery by the Suppliers, a joint team of technical officers from NAADS and MAAIF visits the seedling suppliers to ascertain/ verify both the quality and quantity of the seedlings as specified including germination tests.

These efforts, he says, have seen the Ministry significantly reducing on counterfeit and adulterated farm inputs on the market.

He added that the Ministry through NAADS/OWC and other MAAIF Agencies has continued to distribute critical farm inputs.

For instance, In the last five years, the Ministry has distributed; 19,562,506 kgs of maize seed, 7,086,504 kgs of bean seed, 793,223 bags of cassava cuttings, 410,737,788 tea seedlings, 21,526,743 cocoa seedlings, 17,151 Dairy heifers, 3,412 beef cattle, 632,497 poultry – Birds, 7,405,117 fingerlings for tilapia, 121 sets of milk coolers and matching generators, Tractors, 344 motorized pumps and 400 knapsack spray pumps, among others.

Ssempijja says these initiatives has led to increase in productivity and production in the country leading to surpluses and increased exports.

The Ministry, according to Ssempijja, has carried out trainings of extension staff and non-state actors on the principles of the four Acre-Land-Model that will be piloted based on the concept of the Village Agent Model

He explained that the Nucleus Farmer Model is intended to streamline ways in which Government will empower progressive farmers in specific value chains to be the means of creating linkages between central Government, Local Governments, Extension services, input dealers, NAADS/ OWC activities, Financial and Insurance service providers, Agriculture Research and other private sector value chain actors, at both parish and sub-county level.

The model, he says, will ease mobilization of farmers into groups and higher-level producer marketing associations and link the farmers to input dealers, traders and financial service.

So far, he says, the Ministry has procured and distributed 3,720,000 hoes to support 2,450,000 farming households in all regions of the country.

MAAIF also pledged to achieve was to invest and increase exports of specific commodities such as: Coffee from the current 3.6 million bags (60kg) to 6 million bags; maize – from the current 185,000 metric tons to 1.5 million metric tons; tea– from 65,000 metric tons to 130,000 metric tons; and Beans – from 32,000 metric tons to 500,000 metric tons.

To achieve this, Ssempijja says, government has distributed 702,324,272coffee seedlings to coffee farming households.

These efforts, he says, led to increase in the volume of coffee produced from 4.55 million in FY 2015/16 to 7.75 million in FY 2019/20, an increase of 70%.

He revealed that the volume of coffee exports increased by 43% from 3.557 million bags exported in FY 2015/16 to 5.103 million bags in FY 2019/20.

Ssempijja says this is the highest volume of coffee that Uganda has ever exported in the last 30 years.

He says the value of coffee exports increased by 41% from US$ 352 million in FY 2015/16 to US$ 496 million in FY 2019/20.

The increase in the value of coffee exports, he says, is largely due to the current low market levels nationally and globally for both Robusta and Arabica where the average unit price in 2015/16 was USD 2.06 per kg compared to USD 1.62 per kg in 2019/20 and lower 1.70 USD which was projected.

In the last five years, Ssempijja noted that primary coffee processers/ hullers increased from 454 to 578, coffee roasters increased from 14 to 28, export grading plants increased from 21 to 36 and buying stores increased from 506 to 700.

Minister Ssempijja says the Ministry distributed a total of 19,562,506 kgs of maize seed to both small holders and commercial farmers in all district local governments in the last five years.

This, Ssempijja says, resulted to an increase in production of maize by 85% from 2.6 million MT in 2016 to 5 million MT in 2020.

For instance, he says the volume of maize exports has also increased by 6% from 263,114 MT in 2016 to 278,693 MT in 2019 while the value of exports has increased by 29% from USD 84.99 million in 2016 to USD 109 million in 2020.

He attributes this to good rains, distribution of seed by government, increased adoption of improved maize varieties by farmers, increased value addition by private sector and increased vigilance by Government to control pests and diseases.

Over the past 5 years, the ministry distributed 410,737,788 tea seedlings in 21 tea growing districts.  Ssempijja says these efforts have increased tea production by 5% from 67,000MT in the FY 2015/16 to 70,338 MT in FY 2019/20.

He says the sector interventions together with the farmers’ own initiatives has stimulated establishment of more tea factories from 27 to 33 factories.

He noted that these efforts have resulted in a 23% increase in the volume of exports from 54,898 MT worth USD 74.5 million in FY 2015/16 to 67,321 MT worth USD. 71 million in FY 2019/20.

The Government also distributed a total of 21,526,743 cocoa seedlings to both small holders and commercial farmers in district local governments that prioritize cocoa production in the past five years.

As a result, he says, Cocoa export volumes have increased by 19% from 29,761 MT in FY 2015/16 to 35,318 MT in FY 2019/20 while the value of cocoa exports increased by 3% from USD 75 million to USD 78 million in the last five years. 

In terms of fruits (Citrus, mangoes, pineapples and apples), the ministry says government distributed 41,426,303 citrus seedlings; 28,706,281 mango seedlings; 2,439,155 apple seedlings and 36,446,670 pineapple suckers.

Ssempijja says these interventions have already resulted into a 45% increase in export volumes of fruits and vegetables from 57,358 MT in 2015 to 83,554 MT in 2020 while the export values have increased by 41% from USD 32.1 million in 2015 to USD 45.23 million in 2020. 

Ssemijja reveals that there has been an increase in Milk production from 2.08 billion litres in 2015/16 to 2.51 billion litres in 2019/20.

He says the volume of marketed milk has been maintained at 80 % between 2015 and 2020.

The export value of milk and milk products has increased by 310% from USD 50 million in 2015 to USD 205 million in 2020, according to ministry figures.

Ssempijja attributes this to improved compliance to both regional and international standards and enhanced dairy processing capacities.

The dairy exports were mainly destined to EAC, COMESA countries, SADC, UAE, Nigeria, Syria, Japan, Oman, USA, Nepal and Bangladesh. More alternative markets in Algeria and China have been found during the implementation of the last Manifesto.

In the 2021-2026 manifesto, Ssempijja says the agriculture sector priorities will follow the agro-industrialization programme agenda as enshrined in NDPIII with a focus de-risking agribusiness to support commercialization of agriculture followingthe commodity value chains approach, including; increasing production and productivity, agro-processing, value addition, storage, markets, access to agricultural finance and insurance and institutional strengthening for improved coordination and service delivery.