The Grain Council of Uganda (TGCU) has launched the Industry Self-Regulation Scheme (ISR) for Uganda’s Grain Sector. The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Geraldine Ssali, presided over the launch in Kampala.

She said the ISR, a voluntary initiative, is a more sustainable approach for complementing the availability of quality and safe grain in Uganda.

She added that Uganda’s grain industry plays a significant role in providing nutrition, securing income for smallholder & commercial farmers & boosting the national economy.

She mentioned that the growth & development of the industry requires increased efficiency & the effectiveness of all players.

“Our strategic partnership with TGCU on the ISR means that grain on our markets shall be subjected to rigorous testing for quality assurance to protect our people from aflatoxins and spur a larger export market for our grain,” he stated.

The TGCU is a national private multi-stakeholder member organization bringing together & supporting grain producers, traders, grain processors, and grain exporters.

In April 2022, the Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC) in collaboration with USAID PolicyLINK hosted a regional write shop in Nairobi to design a framework for establishing industry self-regulation for staple food value chains in East Africa to improve food safety compliance.

The workshop aimed to come up with a draft industry self-regulation framework that covers all the main components of an ISR as well as come up with its implementation plan.

The workshop was a buildup on preceding country meetings held in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, that sought to discuss Industry Self-regulation to address the aflatoxin challenge in staple food value chains.