The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Animal Husbandry has drawn up strategies to ensure that Uganda becomes one of the largest producers of hass avocado, cashew nuts, and macadamias in the world.
Dr. Samuel Mugasi, the Executive Director of the National Agricultural Advisory Services, said the government is committed to supporting farmers in a bid to spur the exports of the above plants to the world.
He said they have developed an Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy (AVCDS) to align all agro-industrialization program interventions on avocado production with the PDM framework.
According to Dr. Mugasi, the Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy aims to foster partnerships with large commercial farmers for the production of strategic commodities such as macadamia, avocado, and cashew nuts, as well as other enterprises catering to both national and international demand.
This is aimed at scaling up production of these commodities to take advantage of the growing national, regional, and international markets.
The avocado industry as a whole has been successful in expanding its market share globally in recent years. Avocados from Africa are now entering new markets, such as China, India, and Japan. Uganda has not been left behind, as it has recorded a steady climb in its avocado exports since 2012. As of now, Ugandan avocados have entered new markets in Russia and Oman.
“For example, one commercial acre has 160 Hass avocado trees, and one tree can produce 100–300 fruits after two and a half to three years. Therefore, one acre can produce between 16,000 and 48,000 fruits; hence, a farmer can earn between UGX8,000,000 and UGX24,000,000 from their first harvest of Hass avocados. This means after five years, a farmer can earn UGX56,000,000–UGX80,000,000 from their second harvest of Hass avocados,” Mugasi explained.