Ugandan Cocoa said to have a distinct flavor

According to Troulis, the market potential for the export of Cocoa has not been fully realised and not discovered in its full ability to meet a growing market demand.

As things stand, cocoa is a respectable third in terms of being a crop export earner while coffee and tea are number one and two respectively. However, cocoa as a cash crop has been given the same funding as coffee and cocoa.

Troulis added that, beyond the potential of the crop, Uganda’s cocoa has a very unique flavor and this makes it a contender as a top revenue earner.

However, he said, if Uganda wants to earn big from commercial cocoa production, it would have to produce 100,000 metric tonnes a year.

Yet, according to Mr Alex Lwakuba, the Commissioner Crop Production Department at the Ministry of Agriculture, Uganda has been producing 41,282 metric tonnes of cocoa beans and has earned $ 99.7m (Shs355b) as of December 31, 2020.

“We have to improve productivity, increase production and certify significant volumes of cocoa. At the same time, we need enterprises to be much more entrepreneurial, take more risks and build their competence even more than they have done,” Dr Troulis says.