Uganda Increases Avocado Production
Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) is facilitating Ugandan farmers in certain regions’ planting of avocados to improve national health and boost the economy. (Google)
Dr. Barbara Mugwanya Zawedde, the director of research at Mukono ZARDI, the Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute of the Mukono municipality in Uganda, announced last week that the institute was solicited to produce avocado seedlings that will be distributed to local farmers.
Ugandan Minister of Agriculture Vincent Ssempijjaa started campaigning for increased Hass avocado production in the Mayuge District, located in eastern Uganda, on June 18, 2020. According to Ssempijjaa, grand-scale avocado production will serve the country in two key ways: increasing export revenue and improving national health.
National Health
Avocados are in high demand globally, likely due to increasing awareness of the fruit’s health benefits. It is a superfood rich in omega; vitamins A, B, C, E, and K; phytochemicals like beta-sitosterol; and antioxidants like lycopene and beta-carotene. Such nutrients make it “one of the most nutrient-dense foods available.” Consequently, researchers at ZARDI predict that grand-scale national avocado production will also increase avocado accessibility for citizens, which may reduce poverty and malnutrition.
Increased Revenues
Mukono ZARDI tweeted on January 29, “We value the contribution of women in the social-economic development of Uganda through Hass avocado production,” accompanied by the hashtags “#increasedincomes #transformedlivelihoods.” The tweet included a photo of a Ugandan man and woman who appear to be harvesting the fruit. Such socio-economic development is not an exaggeration. Between 2016 and 2019, U.S. avocado consumption rose from 1.05 million metric tons to 1.26 million. Although the U.S. produces some avocados, avocado production in the United States is sensitive to varying weather conditions and varies yearly. Thus, the country has been depending on avocado imports from countries including Uganda. Owen Sungura, the avocado project research officer at Mukono ZARDI, disclosed that the institute’s annual avocado production goal of 600,000 grafted seedlings will help to meet this demand.
Through the new national avocado production program, interested farmers from across the country can purchase each seedling at 5,000 Ugandan shillings ($1.37), which is a subsidized price. These farmers will then be guided in their cultivation of the crop by the National Agricultural Research Organization at no charge. Sungura states that such a generous process should “emphasize good agronomic practices and… ensure that the farmers meet the expected international hygienic fruit production standards.” Sungura then added, “Our other goal is to link [the farmers] to avocado exporters and, where possible, get them into contract farming.”
The Effects of COVID-19 on Ugandan Plans for Avocado Production
It’s likely that national and district-wide plans for avocado production will be stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on both employment and travel/transport. The fruit requires uninterrupted cold chains in transport, an exportation sequence that has experienced delays as a consequence of national lockdowns and few available workers. Such delays have already “not only affected product quality but also reduced the weight and value of shipments received by importing countries.”
Potential Effects on the Environment
It should be noted that Uganda has a promising track record of agricultural production with different crops, particularly palm and coffee.
The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament and a subsector agency of Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) reported that, in March of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, “coffee exports... amounted to 477,561 60-kilogram bags worth $45.87M… an increase of 38.39 percent and 35.72 percent in quantity and value respectively from the same month [in 2019].” The UCDA’s vision is to enable “a sustainable coffee industry with high stakeholder value for social economic transformation.” Such a goal is being addressed through aims at increasing coffee production through the use of clean planting material, promotion of the re-planting program, by enhancing the use of Good Agricultural Practices, and by supporting the “management of pest and diseases and use of agro-inputs and promote coffee growing in new areas, especially in Mid-Northern Uganda.”
However, the country’s palm industry is inherently worse for the local environment, even with the MAAIF’s general emphasis on sustainability. For instance, on April 16, 2020, Buvuma received 190,000 pre-germinated oil palm seedlings, the first batch of many to arrive in the district located in the central region of Uganda. Through this local initiative alone, farmers are planning to plant 500 hectares, which will add up to about 75,000 seedlings. Because so many hectares are necessary for the crop’s growth, the agricultural endeavor is taking its toll on the local environment. Studies in Uganda in 2019 found “detrimental effects on water quality and the local fishing industry.” Thus, although many Ugandan youths are migrating to palm-oil production regions due to the industry’s lucrative employment opportunities, local health and other industries are being negatively affected by the process, perhaps irreversibly.
Although there are not yet environmental concerns regarding avocado production in Uganda’s Mayuge and Mukono regions, the local environment and communities would benefit from strict safety and sustainability practice enforcement by the MAAIF.