52 percent of livestock in Uganda kept for sale - Ubos

 At least 52 percent of domesticated livestock in Uganda is kept mainly for sale, according to a report by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos).

The report, which was released early this week, indicates that while 52 percent of agricultural households keep livestock mainly for sale, 26 percent only keep for sale. 
At least 18 percent keep mainly for own consumption while 3 per cent keep only for own consumption. 

However, this does not compare well with agricultural households involved in crop farming, majority of whom produce for own consumption. 
According to the survey, 68 percent of agricultural household produce for own consumption. 

While presenting the survey in Kampala early this week, Ms Diana Nabukalu, the Ubos statistician in charge of crop statistics in the department of production and environment statistics, said livestock farming is mainly done for commercial purposes compared to crop farming. 
She also indicated that 61 percent of aquaculture is practiced only for sale compared to 49 percent for apiculture and 38 percent for agro forestry. 

Uganda, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, has 14.2 million cattle, 16 million goats, 4.5 million sheep, 47.6 million poultry and 4.1 million pigs. 
Cattle and poultry, FAO noted, are by far the most important components in the livestock sector. 

FAO also noted that at least 3.9 million agricultural households own livestock, with the sector contributing between 1 and 1.5 percent of Uganda’s export trade value. 
Uganda exports much of its livestock products and live animals, dominated by dairy products and eggs, meat and meat products. 

Agriculture, under which livestock and crop farming fall, contribute 24 percent to overall gross domestic product. 
The sector has been recording an average growth of 5 percent but during the 2019/20 financial year it reduced to 4.8 percent due to a number of disruptions. 

The survey also indicates that two in every 10 agricultural households were engaged in only crop production, which represented 21.8 percent while eight in every 10 households were engaged in crop production and other agriculture activities, which represents at least 77.5 percent. Less than 1 percent are engaged in only other agriculture activities (0.7 percent).

Majority of farmers, the survey noted, depend of natural rain cycles while only 5 percent use irrigation. 
Only 6 percent of agricultural households use enhanced seeds compared to 94 percent that depend on traditional seeds. 

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