Uganda is holding talks with Kenya to increase grain exports ranging between 600,000 and one million tonnes annually, in a deal that could earn the country an estimated $195 million to $325 million.

The revelation was made by Gen Salim Saleh, who heads Operation Wealth Creation, a government programme that was launched in 2013 to improve household incomes through increasing agricultural productivity, access to markets and higher earnings.

The deal would be a windfall for farmers and grain traders. Industry players say, however, that it is tied to Uganda working on value addition to its maize, beans, sorghum, rice, groundnuts and millet in order to earn more from its exports.

Open border policy

Due to lack of enforcement of standards and an open border policy, Kenyan, Rwandan and South Sudanese traders often flock Ugandan villages to buy grain cheaply.

Ugandan authorities lament that this has left many farmers shortchanged since unprocessed maize, for example, fetches between $80 and $120 less per tonne than if it were processed.

A total of 20,000 metric tonnes of assorted raw and processed grains leave Uganda every week to other countries.

Statistics show that in November 2017, Uganda exported over 600 tonnes of sorghum, 3,000 tonnes of maize, 9,000 tonnes of beans, and 2,000 tonnes of millet, all in unprocessed form to Kenya.

Grain Council of Uganda figures for 2015 – the most recent year with collated data – show that Uganda produces about four million tonnes of maize annually, but exports only an estimated 166,000 tonnes of good quality, processed maize.

About 400,000 tonnes are consumed locally, while informally, 600,000 tonnes are exported to Kenya and 150,000 tonnes to Rwanda.

Chris Kaijuka, the chairman of the the grain council said that over the past four years, both government and the private sector have invested $100 million to procure equipment for processing, cleaning and drying grain for export.

The Daily Nation, a sister paper to The EastAfrican reported last week that Kenya’s monthly import bill from Uganda jumped more than two-fold to Ksh7.59 billion ($74.9 million) compared with Ksh2.93 billion ($28.9 million) in October, marking the highest ever recorded monthly imports value from its landlocked neighbour.

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