Uganda Agriculture and Fishing Overview

Agriculture and fishing

Agriculture is the most important industry in Uganda. Agricultural products (including fish) accounted for more than 40 percent of exports in the mid-2010s, a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) and provided 70-80 percent of the population. Agriculture is the most important industry in Uganda. Agricultural products (including fish) accounted for more than 40 percent of exports in the mid-2010s, a quarter of the gross domestic product (GDP) and provided 70-80 percent of the population.

  • CountryAAH: Comprehensive import regulations of Uganda. Covers import prohibitions and special documentation requirements for a list of prohibited items.

Agricultural production is enough to supply the entire population with food. The fertile soil and the favorable climate mean that in southern Uganda you can harvest twice a year if it rains normally. With irrigation you can get three or four harvests in one year.

The government has presented plans for even more extensive harvesting of rainforests to make room for large-scale cultivation projects, which has sparked protests from environmental groups. Climate change makes it harder to predict how much rain will come and when.

Most fertile are the soils in a semi-circular arch around Lake Victoria, where the rain falls evenly throughout the year. The worst conditions are in Karamoja in the northeast, where the dry periods can be long. A large part of the population lives on livestock management. In Karamoja and parts of northern Uganda, famine has erupted at regular intervals, but it has been almost exclusively due to armed conflicts in the areas. Overgrazing that leads to soil destruction is a problem in the so-called livestock corridor in the north. For Uganda defense and foreign policy, please check prozipcodes.

Small farms account for the majority of agricultural production. These small farms, where the family who farms most often own it, produce both food to meet their own needs – especially the cook banana matoke, cassava, sweet potatoes and corn – and crops for sale.

Productivity is low, and a major problem is that perhaps as much as 30-40 percent of the seed sold in Uganda is unfit. Several projects, both state and aid-driven, have been launched to make it easier for farmers to borrow money and to guarantee the quality of the seed.

Coffee has long been the dominant selling crop, but this has been changed through conscious investments in cotton, tea, tobacco, cocoa vegetables and cut flowers. Tea and sugarcane are grown on a few large plantations.

About half a million households still receive most of their income from coffee exports. But many coffee bushes are old and new planting is needed to keep production up. Uganda has been an important producer of organic and fair-labeled coffee for many years.

Livestock management is also important where, among other things, they breed cattle, goats, sheep and chickens. Overgrazing that leads to land destruction is a problem in the so-called livestock corridor in the country’s northern part.

Fish has traditionally been an important source of nutrition and nowadays commercial fishing is also conducted in the large lakes. However, fishing has declined in recent years as stocks have declined.

FACTS – AGRICULTURE

Agriculture’s share of GDP

24.2 percent (2018)

Percentage of land used for agriculture

71.9 percent (2016)

2016

December

Prosecution is brought against the king by Rwenzururu

13th of December

King Charles Mumbere and over 150 others are charged with treason and for attempting to overthrow the government (see November 2016). The King is also charged with terrorism, gross robbery, attempted murder and murder. (13/12)

LRA leader before the ICC

December 5

The trial of one of the LRA’s leaders, Dominic Ongwen, begins at the ICC in The Hague. He is charged with both a number of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ongwen was just a kid when he was kidnapped and forced to fight for the LRA. Uganda has agreed that Ongwen’s case is being tried by the ICC, despite its opposition to the international court.

November

Prosecution is brought against King

November 30

King Charles Mumbere is charged with the murder of a police officer in March 2016.

Over a hundred dead in battles

November 26th

Struggles break out in Rwenzururu in western Uganda, one of the country’s traditional kingdoms, between King Charles Wesley Mumber’s guards and government forces. The king, who is the leader of the Bakonzo people, is on a collision course with the government accusing him of setting up a parallel government in order to create an independent republic which would also include part of the North Kivu in Congo-Kinshasa. According to authorities, the clashes begin after the guards attacked police and government soldiers on assignment in the city of Kasese. Human Rights Organization Human Rights Watchwho makes an investigation after the incident says in a report that the violence was triggered when the government forces forced themselves into a building belonging to the local administration and shot eight guards to death. HWR who spoke with eyewitnesses and survivors state that 155 people were killed in the fighting, including 15 children. The government rejects HWR’s information and claims that no children are among the dead and estimates the number of fatalities to just over a hundred people. The king is arrested but denies that he is involved in the violence. Even between 1962 and 1982, the Bakonzo people fought in the area of ​​an independent Rwenzururu. In the early 1980s, they abandoned their weapons after promises of increased self-government. The Bakonzo people feel marginalized and despite some efforts, Museveni has failed to win their support.

Court orders closure of schools

November 4th

The Supreme Court orders the closure of 63 schools run by the American foundation Bridge International Academies, which is supported, among others, by the Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates foundations. As a reason, there are major shortcomings in both curricula and sanitary conditions. The government decided in July to close the schools, but Bridge International Academies turned to the court to have the decision reconsidered. There are also those who claim that the situation is not better in the state schools.

September

Police stop the Pride Parade

September 25

Hundreds of LGBT activists are trying to conduct a Pride Parade in Entebbe on Lake Victoria. However, they are stopped by police.

Motion for re-election of Museveni stopped

September 14

A motion by an NRM member to remove the upper age limit for the president (and judges and members of the electoral commission) is halted by President Rebecca Kadaga, who says it will trigger a constitutional crisis if adopted.

July

The army evacuates from South Sudan

July 20

The Ugandan army says it has evacuated 38,000 civilians escaping in South Sudan’s capital Juba. Most are Ugandan citizens, but hundreds of Kenyans, Rwandans and people of other nationalities have also been helped to get out of South Sudan, the army says.

Besigye free to the castle

July 12

Opposition leader Kizza Besigye is released on bail during his ongoing treason trial. He was arrested in May when he posted a video in which he pretended to hold the presidential oath in protest of what he claims was cheating in the February presidential election.

June

Amnesty criticizes Uganda

June 12

Amnesty International calls on the country’s national police force to investigate information on harassment by representatives of some 30 domestic and international human rights organizations.

More military arrested

June 12

A spokesman for the army says officers, both from the army and the air force, who are suspected of planning a coup against President Museveni have been arrested. Alongside the military, politician Michael Kabaziguruka of the FDC should also have been arrested. According to analysts, it is unlikely that any coup attempt has been planned, even if the designated ones were critical of the president.

Protest under budget figures

June 9

Opposition members are interrupting President Museveni when he presents the budget in Parliament and calls for FDC leader Besygie to be released.

The government is being redone

7 June

Most people in the heavy positions are allowed to keep their jobs, but 35 people, many of whom did poorly in the February elections, are allowed to leave. The President’s wife, Janet Museveni, is appointed Minister of Education and Sport. She previously had a less prominent position.

May

Sentenced for terrorist offenses

May 27th

UgandanIsa Ahmed Luyima, one of 13 prosecuted for two attacks in Kampala in connection with the 2010 Soccer World Cup (see July 2010), according to a ruling in the Kampala High Court. 74 people were killed in the death, which Somali al-Shabaab was behind. Luyim is sentenced to life imprisonment for planning the assault. Another four people are jailed, two of whom are sentenced to 50 years in prison. The judge says he would have wanted to sentence the men to death, but that it would only play the terrorists in his hands.

Besigye is charged with treason

May 13th

The charge is that he claimed that it was he who won the presidential election and not Museveni. If he is convicted of the crime, he risks being sentenced to death.

Representatives of the West leave Museveni’s installation

May 12

Representatives of the United States, Canada and EU countries hastily leave the ceremony in Kampala, during which Museveni is sworn in for a fifth term. It is in protest against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir will visit the installation, even though he is being prosecuted by the Criminal Court ICC for genocide in Darfur. Museveni also says that he no longer supports the ICC, which according to the president is “a bunch of worthless people”.

Opposition leaders are arrested

May 11

Besigye is arrested again by the police, this time when he is speaking to supporters in Kampala. The arrest is made one day before Museveni is to be installed for its fifth presidential term. The opposition leader is supposed to have completed his own installation ceremony a few days before, and a filmed version is spread quickly via social media.

Tougher grip on media

May 6

Authorities prohibit media from monitoring opposition politicians’ protests against the re-election of President Museveni. The government warns that journalists who report on the opposition’s activities may lose publishing or broadcasting permits and that they risk being arrested.

February

Besigye is arrested again

February 22

Opposition leader Besigye is arrested when he, along with supporters, masks against the Electoral Commission’s office. He is accused of disrupting public order and wanting to cause social chaos. It is the fourth time in eight days he has been arrested by police.

Museveni wins the presidential election

February 22

The final result shows that the incumbent president received close to 61 percent of the vote compared to just over 35 percent for Besigye. The turnout is 63.5 percent. Museveni is thus allowed to govern the country for a fifth term in a row. Besigye, who has been in house arrest since February 19, rejects the Electoral Commission’s figures and says that gross electoral fraud occurred. International election observers state that the election was held in an atmosphere of fear. Even though Museveni wins by a clear margin, the results show that Besigye won new ground in Mbale, Fort Portal and Gulu, in addition to the strong support he already had in Kampala. In the parliamentary elections, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) becomes the largest party with a clear margin and receives 293 seats, led by the Democratic Change Forum (FDC) with 36 seats, Democratic Party (DP) with 15 seats and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) with 6 seats. 66 independent candidates are elected to Parliament.

Eight candidates are running for president

In addition to Museveni, Mbabazi and Besigye, Benon Biraro, a retired Major General, candidate Venansius Baryamureeba, academic, Abed Bwanika, a veterinarian who directs his rhetoric against homosexuals, the only woman, Maureen Kyalya, and Pastor Joseph Mabirizi. During the election day itself, the authorities block social media, which is stated to prevent people from spreading lies. Presidential candidate Besigye is temporarily arrested by the police, and complaints are made from voters that there will be unreasonably long waiting times at the polls.

Unrest before the election

February 15

Opposition protests lead to violent clashes between protesters, who support Kizza Besigye’s candidacy in the election, and police. Police fire rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters. At least one person is killed and several injured. Besigye is arrested by police, but later released. The authorities are also accused of media attacks, for example, NTV Uganda is prohibited from broadcasting from NRM’s election meetings.

Presidential candidate wants to pay tribute to Idi Amin

It draws attention when presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi, according to the British media company BBC, says he wants to take home the remains of Idi Amin from Saudi Arabia and build a museum in his honor. The promise is given when Mbabazi visits Amin’s home region in northwestern Uganda. According to a Mbabazi spokeswoman, this is an attempt to create reconciliation in the country.

Concern for opposition supporters

A Ugandan human rights organization, Human Rights Network-Uganda (HRINET-U), in a report published at the beginning of the month, expresses concern about what has happened to several members of opposition parties who have disappeared. Several persons must also have been arrested without being brought to justice. FDC candidate Kizza Besigye should also have twice been stopped by police when he was on his way to the general elections. Meanwhile, activists have created a campaign, peace must prevail (Peace Must Prevail), to counter violent protests during the election. The police also warn that some politicians have recruited people from militia groups to cause disorder.

January

Regime critics in court

January 31

General David Sejusa was indicted on January 31 before a military court for refusing to obey orders. He must have attended political meetings, even though the head of the Armed Forces forbade him to do so. According to his supporters, the arrest is about President Museveni’s fears that Sejusa will be able to get people to protest against possible cheating during the elections.

LRA leader in court

January 21st

The lawsuit against LRA leader Dominic Ongwen begins at ICC International Criminal Court. Then an initial hearing will take place for five days. The trial itself will be held later. The charge against Ongwen contains 70 points on war crimes and crimes against humanity. The now 40-year-old LRA leader was kidnapped by the guerrillas when he was ten years old. He eventually became one of the LRA’s top commanders (see also January 2015).

Uganda Agriculture and Fishing