Uganda’s horticulture sector remains one of the top earners for the African nation but recent European Union warnings over quality related issues could really hurt the sector.
Paul Mwambu is the Commissioner for Crop Inspection and Certification at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. He told The Independent in an interview that most of the country’s horticulture products are falling short of the EU recommended standards and thus risk being denied access to the 27-nation market. The EU’s concerns revolve around presence of pests, poor storage, packaging and high levels of unwanted pesticide residues.
Uganda’s horticulture exports mainly to the EU have been growing over the past years, with the flower export volumes increasing from 6.05 billion tons worth US$ 52.99 million in the financial year 2012/13 to 7,19 billion tons worth US$ 61.88 million. Similarly, the volume of vegetable and fruit exports have increased from 16.5 million tons worth US$16 million to 135.2 million tons worth US$ 45 million during the same period under review.
This is the second time that the EU is issuing a warning over horticultural exports in three years. In 2015, several EU member countries raised a red flag on Ugandan products due to poor standards and excessive chemicals. This prompted the Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Amelia Kyambadde, to ban a section of horticultural products including hot pepper for a month to address the issue.
This was followed up with the setting up a technical team to train Ugandan farmers on quality compliance and pest control. Benon Biziirah, the quality manager of FFP Uganda Ltd, which exports mainly hot pepper to the EU told The Independent that government’s failure to enact stringent regulations on who and how to export is to blame for the persistence of poor quality products and exports. High costs for testing residue levels in the crops has also contributed to the mess.
James Kanyije, the CEO of KK Foods, an exporter of fresh fruits and vegetables, re-echoed Biziirah’s view saying the government is yet to come up with strong regulation: “We have weak authorities. They know the problem but they not tackling it.”