THE APICULTURE INDUSTRY IN UGANDA
Commissioner of Livestock Health and Entomology, Dr Nicholas Kauta

Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• History of agricultural systems in Uganda
• Current status
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Existing opportunities and threats
• Conclusion

Facts about Uganda

• Area: about 241000 square kilometers
• Rainfall average about 1200mm
  (min 750mm, max 1800mm).
• Bimodal rainfall in most parts
• About 20% is surface water (lakes, rivers, swamps)
• Abundant vegetation cover.
• Temperature average 28C
• High altitude hence moderate temperatures

Historic perspective (policy climate)

• Before colonial times all forms of agriculture were basically subsistence in nature
• During colonial times, support to agriculture was tailored to requirements for raw materials for their domestic industries (markets). Cash crops were introduced.
• They were developed to be referred to later as traditional exports
• Those enterprises/commodities that did not get attention from colonial masters did not develop (including apiculture). They are currently referred to as non-traditional exports because of their late entry into export initiatives.

General trend

• Agriculture is generally under funded (between 2% and 4% of budget allocation)
• Even within agriculture, apiculture was not a priority.
• Agriculture is generally not commercialized
• Processing of agricultural products is not a developed art
• Knowledge of marketing of agricultural outputs is very low
• Credit to the agricultural sector is insignificant
• Agricultural infrastructure is generally lacking

Pillars of Uganda’s economy in the 1960s

• Cotton
• Coffee
• Copper
• Tea
• Tobacco
• Tourism

Traditional exports (85% of national exports)

• Cotton
• Coffee
• Tea
• Tobacco

Characterizing  the traditional export sector support

• Government support to enterprises especially through cooperatives
• Direct and indirect investments by the beneficiaries - mainly foreign initiatives (market outlets)
• Contract farming  

 Non traditional exports

• Sericulture
• Honey (apiculture)
• Vegetables and flowers
• Animal products (beef, dairy and fish)
• Spices

Characterizing the non-traditional export sector support

• Support from international non-profit making organizations (FAO, CARE, Commonwealth)
• Objective was to kick start enterprises but no market promotion activities were undertaken
• The demands of markets are catered for by the exporting nation
• Local people are getting involved in market development
• Limited or no government support

CURRENT SITUATION

• Production estimates are unreliable
• Estimated national potential is 500,000 metric tonnes (Prof Horn)

Strengths

• Abundant resources for apiculture – Very high potential for honey and other bee-product production (healthy indigenous honeybees, sting-less bees, forage for bees, climate etc.)
• Some indigenous knowledge on bee farming

Sector specific weaknesses

• Very low public sector support hence lack of national approach to bee farming
• Lack of critical mass of people with essential knowledge and skills in the sector
• No apiculture policy (currently in draft)
• Lack of a comprehensive strategic national plan for apiculture (currently in draft)
• Incompetence in production, processing, packaging and marketing of products
• Weak organizational linkages between stakeholders in the sector

 Weaknesses cont’d (marketing constraints)

• The internal market has not been good enough to stimulate production.
• Sector not yet commercial (only starting to focus in the direction)
• Lack of knowledge of market outlets and market requirements
• Lack of production processing and marketing infrastructure
• Minimal market development efforts
• Limited quality products
• Limited options of packaging materials

Threats

• Reducing vegetation cover (habitat loss)
• Increasing pesticide use
• High minimum standards for world market access

What dampened local initiative

• Per capita income is US$ 300
• 38 % of the population earn  below US $ 1 per day.
• Since apiculture has been a rural initiative the difficulty of accumulating investment capital under the circumstances is very remote.
• Unfavorable credit terms
• The mid-term expenditure framework (often regarded important but not urgent)

Elements of local development initiatives

• To explore potential markets and work towards them
• To attract investors to play middleman and link producers with the market.

Current initiative – Public Sector (since 2000)

• Apiculture Policy formulated
• Apiculture Development  and export Strategy formulated
• Standards formulated
• Formation of Umbrella organization for the sector supported
• Sector legislation improved
• Support to quality assurance to support exports done (EU compliant)

Current initiative – Private sector (since 2000)

• Umbrella body TUNADO is active and has registered membership
• Over 20 associations/companies active in the sector
• Some companies can go the full range of processing, packaging and marketing
• Several local brands on the market
• Effort to attract some investments from outside.

Conclusion

Development of the sector must be on both public and private sector fronts. Therefore support to apiculture must be holistic and address production, processing and marketing.

  Download Dr Kauta's PowerPoint presentation here (192kb .pps file)