Uganda Remains Net Wheat Importer

NAIROBI - May 1/02 - STAT -- Wheat production in Uganda will continue to fall far short of the country's annual needs, maintaining a substantial import market demand for Argentine and Australian wheat, according to a recent report by the U.S. agricultural attache here.

Solid opportunities exist for expansion of the local industry. Unfortunately, local infrastructure is inadequate to support substantial expansion.

Wheat production in Uganda is thought to total 12,000 MT this year, while consumption by the country's millers is pegged at 120,000 MT. Monetized wheat under PL-480, Title II (HRW) is the only U.S. wheat entering the market presently, the balance being Australian, Argentine, with the occasional parcels of wheat coming from Pakistan and Turkey.

Smaller amounts of German flour are imported by bigger bakeries in containers. Estimates of this volume are less than 1,000 MT annually. Occasional imports for home baking from Kenya also occur. Flour exports to rebel-held South Sudan and Eastern portions of the Democratic Republic of Congo occur, but are usually informal and thus are very difficult to quantify.

All wheat produced in Uganda comes from Kapchorwa district near the eastern border with Kenya on the slopes of Mount Elgon. Production is based on broadcast seeding with saved seed, minimal input use, hand sickle harvesting, ox-drawn and/or hand soil preparation and small engine powered rotary threshers.

There are no operational combines, and most of the small holders plots (1-5 acres) would not support combines due to steepness and plot size. Annual yield is estimated by the district Agricultural Officer as 2,000 kilograms per hectare, although no objective yield surveys are carried out. For comparison, Kenya's annual average wheat yield is about 2,900 kilograms per hectare.

Around 20% of the wheat produced is consumed on the farm and another 110 kilograms per hectare held back as planting seed. A sizeable proportion of the production is transported to Kenya, mainly because prices in Kenya are usually higher. It is estimated that an average of about 1,700 MT available for commercial purposes, 1,000 MT probably goes to Kenya.