By Emma Were Belinda
Africa-Press – Uganda. Uganda is a land blessed with rich soils, favorable weather and hardworking people. For decades, agriculture has sustained millions of livelihoods and remains the backbone of the economy. Unfortunately for some time, Uganda has exported her agricultural wealth in raw form, fetching only a small fraction of the value of the produce.
Today the narrative is changing with Uganda pushing a deliberate effort to transform agriculture from a subsistence activity into a modern industrial engine capable of accelerating economic growth and prosperity by 2040.
Government launched an ambitious plan in 2023 dubbed the “Ten-fold growth strategy” with a vision to expand the economy from approximately $50bn to $500bn by 2040.
The plan focuses on accelerating growth through four key sectors: agro-industrialisation, tourism, mineral development, and science/technology innovation (ATMs). These sectors are treated as growth multipliers supported by strong public investment, private sector incentives and enabling infrastructure like roads, railways, energy and water systems to reduce production costs.
We recently witnessed the historic groundbreaking ceremony of the Naivasha-Kisumu-Malaba Standard Guage Railway by H.E William Ruto of Kenya and H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The 107-kilometer Kisumu-Malaba section of the railway is a step towards completing a nearly 1000km rail corridor from Mombasa to the border with Uganda. This project is expected to connect a 272-kilometer Malaba-Kampala line that will form the foundation for trade across East African Community and reduce travel time from 14 hours to about four.
Another transformative project is the 1443 km heated East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) that will transport oil from Hoima to Tanga. This is nearing completion with progress reported at about 79% as of 2026. The $3.55b project is expected to transport 216,000 barrels of oil per day from Hoima through to Tanzania, creating about 12,000 direct jobs and many more contingently.
Uganda’s approach is to produce more, innovate more, export more while building the infrastructure and financial systems that make all sectors thrive. As of 2025, Uganda’s export performance reached record levels, both in value and volume with total merchandise exports of about $13.4b. This represents a 50% growth from the previous year that stood at about $8.7b. The key export contributors for the year 2025 include Gold, coffee, cocoa, sugar, fish, dairy and much more.
Given the above summary, I would like to focus on agro-industrialisation as a key driver on its own.
President Museveni has for long advocated for this strategy that seems simple but very powerful, urging Ugandans to move from exporting raw commodities to finished products. Coffee should not leave the country as beans but as a roasted and branded beverage. Other products including fruits, cassava, dairy, fish, maize and oilseeds must feed local factories that add value before goods reach international markets.
This shift represents more than a change in agricultural policy but a structural transformation that is redefining Uganda’s economic future. The challenge remains productivity levels that have remained historically low due to focusing on primary production rather than industrial processing.
As a remedy, Government is linking farmers to factories and markets with agro-industrialisation. When agricultural production feeds a network of processing plants, packing facilities, transport systems and export channels, the value of the entire chain multiplies.
In practical terms, this means a farmer growing pineapple in Kayunga is not just selling fruit to a trader but rather those fruits can supply a juice factory which employs marketers and logistic workers while exporting branded products to regional and global markets. One crop can therefore generate multiple layers of economic activity.
This is precisely the transformation Uganda is pursuing as part of our broader development strategy to significantly expand the size of our economy by 2040.
There has been deliberate effort towards development of industrial parks across the country. Facilities such as the Namanve Industrial and Business Park are designed to host manufacturing and agro-processing companies that can convert raw agricultural produce into high value goods.
The parks provide critical infrastructure including electricity, water, roads and logistics networks that allow industries to operate efficiently. By clustering factories in dedicated zones, the government hopes to reduce production costs and encourage private investment in agro-processing. This strategy is already attracting investors in food processing, dairy production, grain milling and beverage manufacturing. Each new factory strengthens the link between agriculture and industry, gradually building a more integrated economy.
The greatest economic opportunity of agro-industrialisation lies in export growth. Uganda already produces globally recognized commodities such as coffee, tea, cocoa, fish and horticultural products but exporting them in raw form limits our ability to earn higher revenue.
Expansion of markets under the African Continental Free Trade area has created new opportunities for Uganda with reduced trade barriers across Africa accessing a market of more than a billion consumers. Our factories are not only supplying domestics demands but also serve as production hubs for regional trade.
Beyond exports and industrial growth, agro-industrialisation carries enormous social benefits for Ugandan youths especially when it comes to job creation. It’s critical to note that traditional farming alone cannot absorb this labor force. Agro- processing industries however create employment across multiple stages of production from farming and harvesting to transportation, packaging, marketing and distribution. The growth of agro-industry can revitalize rural economies. When factories are located near farming communities, farmers gain reliable markets for their produce. Stable demand often translates into better prices and greater incentives to increase productivity.
In this way, agro-industrialisation does not only modernize agriculture but rather transforms rural development.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has strongly spearheaded programmes aimed at strengthening agricultural production, expanding irrigation and promoting investment in the industry.
Despite the promise of agro-industrialisation, several challenges must still be addressed. Agricultural productivity remains uneven in many parts of the country due to limited access to modern inputs and irrigation. Post-harvest losses remain high, reducing the volume of produce that reaches processing facilities.
Infrastructure gaps particularly in rural transportation and storage still affected the efficiency of supply chains. Climate change also poses new risks to agricultural production through unpredictable rainfall patterns and extreme weather events.
Addressing these challenges requires sustained investment in technology, infrastructure, and farmer support systems.
Uganda’s ambition to transform its agricultural sector into an industrial powerhouse is both bold and necessary. In a world where value increasingly lies in processing, branding, and innovation, simply exporting raw commodities is no longer enough.
Agro-industrialisation therefore offers Uganda a pathway to capture greater value from its natural resources while creating jobs, strengthening exports, and modernizing rural economies.
If effectively implemented, the country’s farms will not just feed the nation, but fuel industries, power exports, and drive economic growth for decades to come.
By 2040, Uganda’s greatest economic success story may well be the journey from the garden to the factory floor, where agriculture and industry work together to build a prosperous future.
Source: Nilepost News
