Uganda - Seed Industry Rationalisation Project

The proposed project will help Uganda to increase agricultural production and thus improve the supply of food to the population, raw materials for agro-processing industries and foreign exchange earnings through more and better quality agricultural exports. It will also improve the incomes of out grower farmers in the Masindi area. The need for improved seed is Central to the development of Agriculture in Uganda. The project will support the rationalisation of the national seed industry. One of the major downstream beneficiaries of the project will be the oilseed processing industry which, due to poor and irregular oilseed supply, is currently operating at only 10% capacity to supplies less than 2% of national consumption. Oil seed production from the project will be sufficient to cover 350,000 hectares over the life of the project, and these seeds, particularly sesame, sunfolwer and groundnut, will have a hgh oil content. The increased volume of locally produced vegetable oil resulting from the project will reduce the amount of of edible oil currently imported into Uganda. The project will also result in the production of a large quantity of crop seed (maize and sorghum), the performance of which will be a considerable improvement over existing crop seed.