Soybeans earn place among traditional cash crops

Production. Much as Mukwano Industries has started processing soybean in Uganda, it is still on a relatively small scale.

Soybean has never been this important. With demand for the commodity growing faster than before, government has elevated it to the ranks of perennial export earners such as coffee, cotton, tobacco and tea. Economic experts say soybean production has been increasing steadily and attracting global appeal.
“Soy[a]beans are now among our strategic crops. Government is trying to promote it because of its commercial potential,” Mr Alex Bambona, the principal agricultural officer, said.

Unlike the traditional cash crops (among them cotton, coffee, tea and tobacco) soybean growth has been largely driven by the private sector, with government having very little input.
“To boost the edible cooking oil and animal feeds industry, there is no way we can continue ignoring this crop,” said Mr Bambona, adding: “For years, companies like Mukwano and others dealing in oil have been at the forefront, but now the ministry has joined them to promote the crop to another level.”
Soybean is one of the oil seed crops grown for edible oil production. According to a 2011 SNV commissioned report on soybean, the country’s climate and soils are suitable for edible oil production and focus has since been on production in Uganda’s Northern and Eastern regions.
The report further stated that soybean, sesame, and groundnuts were introduced in the country in 1910s, much earlier than cotton that was introduced in 1930s, although it is more popular than the other three crops.

One of the constraints encountered was accumulating enough volume to be competitive.
There was a lack of knowledge about its market which limits the negotiation power of the players involved, particularly the farmers. This also makes it difficult to mobilise more farmers into soybean production.

Production
The SNV report, whose objective was to carry out a study of the soybean value chain with specific attention to the market, its players and market requirement indicated that soybean production has been steadily increasing from an estimated 144,000 hectares in 2004 to 151,000 hectares in 2009.
Production volumes have equally improved from 158,000 metric tonnes to 181,000 metric tonnes over the same period. The positive production trend is attributed to improved soybean research funding, recently established processing plants in northern Uganda and eastern Uganda.

Other reasons according to the reports include the peace and stability in the previously insecure northern Uganda, the growing regional market and the growing livestock industry both internally and in the neighbouring countries.

According to the report, the critical input for the soya bean value chain is planting seed for farmers. Currently, all foundation seed is obtained from Makerere University which is supplied to seed companies, NGOs, private sector and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) programme.
“Uganda’s seed system is informal and some of the seed is distributed to farmers by NGOs for multiplication. This has been criticised for enhancing farmer dependence and often distorting the market,” reads the SNV report.

There is also a general concern that when seed is provided to farmers as credit, it is over priced and at harvest time, grain is underpriced to give advantage to the seed supplier.”
Soybean production is done on small holder plots of one to two acres mainly by subsistence farmers. Local consumption of the crop is still low because of insufficient knowledge about the nutritional and health benefits of soybean. However, Uganda has witnessed steady growth in edible oil production from a mere 3,387 metric tonnes in 1997 to over 10,000 metric tonnes today.

Data from Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) shows that vegetable oil production in 2007/08 was 14,177 metric tonnes. Mukwano industries to date has remained one of the largest players in the sector, producing over 10,000 metric tonnes annually while other players such as Nile Agro produce over 2,000metric tonnes.

Trends
Oil seed purchased per year is estimated at 69,689 metric tonnes while cooking oil produced per year is over 17,064.3 metric tonnes. The top two oil millers in Uganda are Mukwano Industries and BIDCO with a combined installed capacity of 700metric tonnes per day.
The oil seed sub sector directly influences livelihoods of about 12 million people in Uganda.

iladu@ug.nationmedia.com