Thumbnail Image

Enhancing Uganda's dairy export edge

A comprehensive competitiveness analysis

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 46 p.

Author Del Prete, D.; Nkuingoua Nana, J.C.; Kuch, N.; Santoni, G.;

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 978-92-5-139415-1

Synopsis (short abstract) Uganda’s dairy industry, a key sector within the country’s third National Development Plan, has experienced remarkable growth in the last decade, with raw-milk production rising from 1.9 billion litres in 2014 to 2.8 billion litres in 2021, contributing 6.5 percent to agricultural GDP. However, the sector faces challenges including seasonal supply fluctuations, disease outbreaks, limited market diversification, and heavy reliance on Kenya for its dairy exports. In response, Uganda’s Dairy Development Authority (DDA) – supported by FAO’s AgrInvest in Uganda project and FAO’s Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies programme – devised a Dairy Policy Action Plan in 2022 to boost the sector further and address issues through targeted policy interventions.One area to tackle in the DPAP is to enhance Uganda’s dairy export edge by identifying high-potential dairy products and new or existing markets for them. Current exports are concentrated in four key products – non-concentrated milk, low-fat and high-fat concentrated milk, and milk-derived fats and oils – dominating 90 percent of exports, with high demand from Kenya. But diversification is crucial for long-term resilience and greater growth. The report looks at the country’s dairy export competitiveness in terms of specialization patterns, export growth, export-relative prices, and where Ugandan dairy firms figure on the competitiveness ladder. It also analyses Uganda’s dairy imports, as well as the characteristics of Ugandan exporting and importing firms, and discusses informal trade in dairy. The report closes with conclusions and policy recommendations to boost dairy exports and thus strengthen the overall dairy sector bringing with it wider socioeconomic benefits for Uganda.

Cite this content as:

Del Prete, D., Nkuingoua Nana, J.C., Kuch, N. & Santoni, G. 2024. Enhancing Uganda’s dairy export edge – A comprehensive competitiveness analysis. Rome, FAO.  

https://doi.org/10.4060/cd3567en

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • No Thumbnail Available
    Book (stand-alone)
    Regional exchange network for market oriented dairy development 1996
    Also available in:
    No results found.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Booklet
    Analysing milk price incentives to strengthen policies for dairy production and exports in Uganda
    Technical note
    2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    The dairy sector accounts for 6.5 percent of Uganda’s agricultural gross domestic product and is a key industry outlined in Uganda’s Third National Development Plan. Dairy export revenues reached a record high of UGX 358.6 billion in the period 2017–2020, but despite the impressive growth, dairy export values fell short of the Agro-Industrialisation Programme targets of UGX 368.7 billion for the first year. The dairy sector is also hampered by low milk productivity and demand, a large informal sector, and non-tariff barriers to international trade. This study, produced jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Uganda’s Dairy Development Authority, reviews price incentives to smallholder dairy producers by assessing the effects of trade and market policies and dynamics on domestic milk prices in Uganda from 2005 to 2021, using indicators such as the nominal rate of protection (NRP), nominal rate of assistance (NRA) and the market development gap (MDG). These indicators reveal that milk farmers and traders receive prices below the international-equivalent price due to a largely informal and poorly integrated market, prohibitive marketing costs, and a drop in international demand of Ugandan milk. The study recommends increasing market access and commercialization of the sector by improving transport infrastructure, addressing food and mouth disease, diversifying export markets, incentivizing formalization through a training and certification scheme, and supporting a commodity manufacturing cooperative to promote value addition. This report informed the formulation and adoption of the Dairy Policy Action Plan by the Dairy Development Authority.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (series)
    The State of Food and Agriculture, 2002 2002
    Also available in:
    The centrality of food, agriculture and rural development to poverty alleviation and the eradication of hunger underlies most of The State of Food and Agriculture 2002. It attempts both to provide an overview of the current situation and to reflect on some of the major challenges faced in eliminating world hunger and poverty and ensuring the sustainable use of our natural resources.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.