Uganda’s oilseed sector needs action

On April 23, Daily Monitor published a commentary “Govt should come to aid of struggling farmers” by Reuben Twinomujuni.

While the plight of Uganda’s livestock farmers – who struggle with high input costs amid stagnant sale prices – is undeniable, there is more to this than meets the eye.

Among the feedstuffs mentioned by the author, “concentrates” is by far the most expensive one, on a weight basis (Shs220,000 per 50 kg ). These are protein meal concentrates which Uganda imports from developed countries.

In 2020, Uganda imported protein meal concentrates worth $18m (Shs64b) from the Netherlands. Uganda’s total imports of animal feeds in the same year amounted to $44m (Shs156b).

It seems counter-intuitive for a developing country, most of whose population is employed in agriculture to import such large amounts of animal feeds.

What causes this? The root cause is Uganda’s inadequate levels of oilseeds production. Worldwide, the main source of protein for the livestock industry are protein-rich oilseed cakes and meals, a by-product of edible oil extraction.

 Of particular importance is soybean, which is both rich in proteins and has an exceptional amino-acid profile. Uganda’s main oilseed is sunflower. Not only is sunflower meal a much more inferior source of protein compared to soybean meal, but even the production of sunflower has stagnated at about 250,000 tonnes p.a over the last 15 years.

Meanwhile, production of soybean and cottonseed – two other important sources of oilseed meals – is only measured in tens of thousands of tonnes p.a. This is not sufficient to support the country’s growing livestock industry.

Worse, it is not only the livestock industry that suffers such inadequate production of oilseeds. For its edible oil consumption, Uganda is 70 percent dependent on palm oil imports, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

It is of little surprise that the price of cooking oil  is going up as fueled by production deficits and supply chain disruptions, the international price of palm oil has more than tripled since 2020.

On April 22, Indonesia – where almost one half of vegetable oil consumed by Ugandans originates as crude palm oil – announced a blanket ban on palm oil exports. It is hard to overestimate the impact of this decision. Not only will prices likely further double or triple from here; an outright shortage may occur, with cooking oil simply disappearing from Ugandan shop shelves.

These developments are a direct consequence of a laissez-faire economic policy promoted for decades by  financial institutions. Its overreliance on disinflationary effects of trade globalisation is no longer effective. The concept of national food security, until recently scoffed at as a relic of the pre-globalisation era, is back with a vengeance.

Uganda’s domestic palm oil production, championed by Bidco Uganda Limited and heavily supported by international development partners has only marginally contributed to solving this problem: it accounts for less than 10 percent to Uganda’s overall edible oil consumption; has no benefit for the livestock sector; and is severely limited in terms of its possible expansion, due to agroclimatic and land availability factors.

Unlike oil palm growing, oilseed production can be expanded and developed across almost the whole Uganda. It is therefore clear that it offers Uganda an attractive way of supporting its livestock industry and bolstering its edible oil self-sufficiency. So, what needs to be done?

We need to provide smallholder farmers with appropriate agronomic tools and an attractive market for their produce.  Also, stimulating investment in oilseed processing and marketing, thus maximising benefits to both oilseed and livestock farmers.

Mr Pavel Kuzmenko is a director of Cottfield East Africa (U) Ltd.