President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to draft regulations for tea growing and management in the country to safeguard the sector from the shock of low pricing on the international market attributed to improper tea management practices.
“We need to regulate those who grow tea so that they grow it properly, and the ones who buy tea, buy good tea. This will be done,” he said.
President Museveni made the remarks while meeting a group of tea growers, nursery bed operators and processors in Western Uganda. The meeting was held in Bushenyi district.
President Museveni tasked the tea growers to write to the government on the tea sector’s viability and categorisation of the crop as either a high or low value crop to inform the government’s strategic interventions in the sector.
“I want you to go back and write to me on the issue of whether tea is a high-value crop under intensive agriculture or we should continue with extensive agriculture, because some people say you can earn net Shs1. 4 million per month, if you can do that, that will be good. I want this one in writing,” he said.
“Let me get some advice so that we can confidently transfer tea from an extensive type of crop to an intensive one. Prof. Kabwegyere is saying that if everything is done, you can get 8,000 kilograms from an acre. Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu will coordinate all that so that we can get a document to guide our people.”
President Museveni had earlier disregarded tea as a high-value crop due to the fact that it has low returns compared to other alternative high-value crops like coffee.
President Museveni also tasked the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries to set up desks for respective crops instead of setting up boards or authorities like the Tea Authority, as the stakeholders had suggested.
“Regarding the issue of the Tea Authority, that’s a colonial mentality and approach where they emphasised cotton, coffee and copper. But the NRM has been telling you that you can make money from cassava; it is a cash crop. In the colonial times, they were telling you that cash crops were only coffee, cotton, tobacco and tea. Bananas and the like were food crops, but NRM is telling you that those are all cash crops. So, if we are to put up authorities for each cash crop, how many authorities shall we have?” he wondered.
On the other hand, President Museveni pledged that he will look into the challenges they’re facing, and the government will offer a helping hand. “We need to get you a fund for fertilisers, and we shall get it,” he said.
The president also confirmed Shs 312 billion in support for tea growers and processors to clear their loans, as well as improving the quality of Uganda’s tea production to attract a stable international market.
On his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, appealed to farmers to push for self-regulatory mechanisms among themselves as the government expedites the regulatory process.
The Chairperson of Uganda Tea Outgrowers Association, Mr. Onesimus Matsiko appealed to the President to expedite the process of setting up a zoning policy and regulations to streamline the industry.
“Your Excellency, if the issue of costly fertilisers and green leaf quality regulation is dealt with, we would solve Uganda tea industry problems by more than 80 percent,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa, Ministers, Members of Parliament, among others.