Ugandan small and medium-sized companies in the food value chain have received a boost from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) through the training of 80 firms.

The trained food distributors are expected to start providing products that meet international sanitary and phytosanitary standards. Ugandan companies will now be able to sell their food to supermarkets, hotels, as well as regional and international markets.

Comesa Business Council CEO Sandra Uwera said increasing the number of agricultural products sold in regional markets will boost Uganda’s share of intra-Comesa trade and improve the country’s balance of trade.  

Ms Uwera said Uganda needs to address the sanitary and phytosanitary standards of its food products to meet international criteria. 

“Without meeting these standards, businesses can sell within Uganda, but exporting food is out of the question,” she said.

Comesa is also training food distributors in Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi and Ethiopia.

Comesa sanitary and phytosanitary expert Martha Byanyima said training SME owners to produce for bigger markets will strengthen their businesses. She said Africa needs strong SMEs to be industrialised.

SMEs in Uganda contribute 75 per cent of the country’s GDP, and make up 90 per cent of the private sector.

According to executive director of the Private Sector Foundation of Uganda Gideon Badagawa, the private sector currently employs over four million Ugandans, and more jobs would be created if the agriculture and hospitality sectors were to expand.

“If big firms agree to source agricultural products locally, we can employ the 200,000 actively looking for jobs,” he said.

Failure to meet standards for quality food products makes it possible for imported products like chicken from Brazil, and oranges from South Africa to thrive in the Ugandan market, Mr Badagawa said.

“And when we consume these imported products, we are exporting our jobs to those places,” he added.

He urged the government to revive cooperatives, so that organised farmers can maintain high standards.

Unemployment has been highlighted as a major problem for Uganda and many other African countries. Information from Uganda’s 2014 national census shows that while only 200,000 people are actively looking for jobs, 58 per cent of the 14 million labour force are neither employed nor studying. 

A Comesa Business Council study found that Uganda has the potential to export dried legumes, vegetables, cinnamon and cinnamon tree flowers, and cereals worth $2.3 billion to Comesa countries.

This would almost double Uganda’s export receipts, which stood at $2.7 million in the past financial year. Uganda currently has a trade balance deficit, since the country imported goods worth $6.9 billion in the same financial year.

Increasing Uganda’s exports would also deepen integration in Comesa, given that member states of this regional trading bloc do not sell enough goods and services to each other.

Uganda has the fifth biggest share of intra-Comesa trade, behind Egypt at 31.8 per cent, Kenya at 15 per cent, Democratic Republic of Congo at 13.8 per cent, and Zambia at 11.3 per cent. Uganda’s share is 7.5 per cent; Malawi is sixth at 6.5 per cent.

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Intra-Comesa trade growth has been slow over the years, from 5 per cent in 2005 to just 6.4 per cent in 2014. Intra-Comesa trade currently stands at $307 billion, while the total trade of Comesa’s 19 partner states is $4,797 billion.

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The supply of agricultural produce is intermittent, forcing even local hotels, supermarkets and large bulk purchasers like the World Food Programme to opt for imported food products.