Uganda now exporting more organic foods than ever

This was revealed by the Ministry’s Commissioner for Production, Alex Lwakuba, at a stakeholder consultation meeting in Kampala on the national organic agricultural bill.

Lwakuba said that there has been a noticeable shift in the exports of organic foods since 2018. He said the trade volume of organic foods climbed from $50 million in 2018 to $135 million in 2022.

He said that more upscale grocery stores and supermarkets are stocking up on a lot of organic goods, which is an obvious indication of rising demand.

According to Lwakuba, the Government of Uganda has made efforts to promote investment in the industry to raise both output and consumption, with the hope that this will help many Ugandans have food security.

"If the efforts we have spearheaded are widely adopted, organic agriculture will help many people achieve food security because it doesn't necessitate the purchase of pricey fertilisers for growth," he said.

According to https://tradingeconomics.com, an online trade and economics information portal, "Uganda mostly exports agricultural products (80 percent of total exports). The most important export is coffee (22 percent of total exports), followed by tea, cotton, copper, oil, and fish. Uganda’s main export partners are Sudan (15 percent), Kenya (10 percent), DR Congo, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, and the UAE."

According to the Observatory for Economic Complexity, Uganda’s exports for 2021 stood at $6.40 billion, which represented a 10.35% increase from 2020.

The boost in organic food exports has partly contributed to the increase in total exports, which, according to the World Bank, stands at 12 percent of the total GDP.