Uganda’s dairy industry is one of the most dynamic in the agricultural sector. The country, which has been recording a growing production surplus for several years now, is looking for new outlets outside the East African sub-region.
Senegal is looking into the possibility of importing milk and dairy products from Uganda. This was hinted at by President Macky Sall during a visit to his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni between July 17 and 19.
The initiative is part of a shared desire by the two countries to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in several key areas, including trade, technical cooperation and cooperation in political and diplomatic relations in Africa.
Senegal is the second largest importer of dairy products in the West African sub-region, after Nigeria. According to data from the ‘Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie’ (ANSD), the country imported nearly $89 million worth of dairy products in 2021 to make up for its production deficit, which stood at over 32,000 tonnes.
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For Uganda, which wants to diversify its outlets, access to the Senegalese market should enable it to dispose of its milk surplus, which has risen to 3.2 billion liters by 2021/2022, compared with 2.8 billion a year earlier.
As part of this objective, the East African country began talks last February with Algeria, Africa’s leading importer of dairy products, with a view to concluding a supply agreement.