Uganda exports first meat shipment to Jordan

The livestock sector in Uganda has registered a boost with the successful shipment of the first meat export consignment to Jordan.

On February 3, 2022, Pearl Meat Industries in partnership with the Government of Uganda flagged off 5.5 tonnes, the first meat consignment for export to Jordan under a memorandum of understanding where Pearl Meant Industries will be supplying Halal Certified Meat to Jordan.

Mr Idris Ali Elgadhi, the Managing Director of Pearl Meat Industries located in Nakasongola District, confirmed that the first shipment was executed in line with the agreed international standards and that the Halal Certification is a big boost in the meat export journey that was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are supposed to be supplying meat regularly while taking into account the international set standards and the Halal certification undertaken by a certified team from the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council. On Thursday, we successfully shipped 5.5 tonnes of meat. We expect to make another shipment on February 8,” he says.

The Shs22 billion modern abattoir located in Migyeera Town Council, Nakasongola District, has the capacity to slaughter 35 heads of cattle and 80 goats per hour while the chilling rooms have a storage capacity of 100 tonnes.

“We buy the animals from within Nakasongola and outside and have trained teams composed of Ugandans to handle the slaughter process using modern technology. 85 percent of the workers were locally sourced and trained before deployment at different departments in the factory,” he said.

In October 2021, State Minister for Animal Industry Bright Rwamirama held a meeting with a delegation from Jordan and a team from the Agriculture Ministry in preparation for the meat export.

The meat export sector in Uganda had earlier staggered due to the lack of modern slaughterhouses that meet the international market standards. The Nakasongola-based modern abattoir is among the three abattoirs that the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries has been monitoring for approval after meeting the required standards.

“We are finally at the stage where the abattoirs that the team from MAAIF has been monitoring now meet the meat handling standards. This is a success story for Nakasongola-based abattoir. I have been following up on their activities to help them do better. We thank them for this breakthrough,” Lt Col Bright Rwamirama, told the Daily Monitor in a brief telephone interview.

The livestock industry in Uganda has in the past years been affected by frequent disease outbreaks. Foot and Mouth Disease is the most common disease. In several cattle corridor areas, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal and Fisheries has slapped animal movement bans as means of containing the FMD outbreaks.

The Uganda 2018 UBOS puts the cattle estimated population at 14.2 million, the goats at 16 million, and pigs at 4.1 million while the sheep was estimated at 4.5 million. By 2021, the global market demand for meat exports stood at $945.7 billion.

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