Uganda’s avocado industry is set for a major transformation following the validation of a comprehensive three-year roadmap designed to enhance productivity, improve value addition, and strengthen export capacity.
Key public and private sector players came together in Kampala to endorse the national avocado sector roadmap and accompanying action plan, which will guide the industry’s development through 2028.
This milestone follows months of collaborative efforts led by Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) with technical backing from the International Trade Centre (ITC) under the EU-funded EU-East African Community Market Access Upgrade Programme (MARKUP II).
Since the first consultative meeting in November 2024, two additional informal sessions were held in February and March 2025 to fine-tune the strategy. Establishing the avocado sector platform under MAAIF leadership signals a strong commitment from both government and industry to position Uganda as a competitive player in the global avocado trade.
Key groundwork has already been laid to operationalize the platform. This includes drafting a secretariat budget, identifying funding avenues, and calling for expressions of interest from industry associations to manage the secretariat. The platform’s first formal meeting will elect a Chair, set performance targets, and approve the roadmap’s implementation schedule.
Among the roadmap’s priority initiatives are:
- Expanding the supply of improved Hass seedlings at subsidized rates
- Encouraging farmers to adopt Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification through industry associations
- Setting up a hub-and-spoke model linking commercial growers and cooperatives for input supply, aggregation, and knowledge sharing
- Forming an avocado export consortium to handle collective marketing and standards compliance
- Investing in affordable, export-friendly packaging and cold-chain solutions for fresh produce
- Exploring the development of an avocado oil refinery and turning processing waste into animal feed
The roadmap offers a clear direction for Uganda’s avocado sector, aiming to boost export volumes, improve farmer incomes, and support the country’s agro-industrialization agenda.
About EU-EAC MARKUP II
Funded by the European Union, the EU-East African Community MARKUP II program works to improve economic growth within the EAC region by strengthening trade within Africa and with European markets. The initiative focuses on enhancing livelihoods, creating employment opportunities, and raising the export competitiveness of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Through MARKUP II, targeted value chains receive support in areas such as trade facilitation, value addition, quality standards, and technology transfer, with the program being delivered by the International Trade Centre in partnership with the EAC Secretariat and national agencies.
Source: International Trade Centre