The Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Mr Sanjay Tanna, on Thursday held a meeting with members of the Hortifresh Association Uganda, aimed at establishing a strategic partnership for accelerating Uganda’s horticultural export competitiveness. Hortifresh Association Uganda is an all-inclusive business membership organisation for the fresh fruits and vegetables sector, uniting more than 280 members and working with over 1,000 export farmers across the country.

The chairperson of Hortifresh Association Uganda Limited, Mr Samuel Balagadde, informed the minister that they seek to scale up their efforts through a structured five-year strategic partnership with the Ministry of Trade to strengthen export competitiveness, sanitary and phytosanitary compliance, market access, value chain coordination and regional trade integration.

“Uganda produces over 1.3 million metric tonnes of fruits and vegetables annually, yet 30-45 per cent is lost after harvest, and less than 20 per cent reaches premium export markets,” Mr Balagadde.

He noted that there is a need to increase productivity, quality and reliable all year-round supply through improved planting materials, irrigation and aggregation. Over 80 per cent of producers are smallholders, requiring coordinated value chain support. He implored the Ministry of Trade to intervene and push for reduced transport costs and improve cold-chain efficiency, noting that airfreight accounts for 40 to 60 per cent of total export costs, making Uganda less competitive than regional exporters.

Mr Balagadde underscored the huge challenge that exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables face in the area of packaging, standards and certification, noting that less than 20 per cent of Uganda’s produce meets premium export standards. He said the need to expand market access through supporting exporters to attend international trade fairs, unlock affordable finance to support exporters and processors, invest in post-harvest infrastructure, especially packhouses, cold storage and refrigerated transport, and invest in market intelligence to equip exporters with buyer requirements, pricing interests and market data to improve competitiveness and secure higher-value contracts in premium markets.

“The global fruit and vegetable market exceeds $250 billion annually, presenting significant opportunities for Uganda. Our target as Hortifresh is to increase our exports of fruits and vegetables to $2 billion by 2030,” Mr Balagadde said.

Minister Tanna said his ministry will work with its agency, the Uganda Freezones and Export Promotion Authority (UFZEPA), to support the fresh fruits and vegetable exporters, especially in the areas of market intelligence, participation in international trade fairs, negotiating fair trade, and also liaise with other partners to address the challenges faced by these exporters.

He, however, advised them to embrace value addition to some of these products, especially the spices, saying they can make several value-added products from them, including essential oils, processed powders, and others.

Mr Tanna assured them of the ministry’s support, but urged the group to focus on three or four strategic crops on the list of fruits and vegetables, such as Hass avocado and others in order to achieve their objectives.