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Value Chain Analysis of the Rice Sector Report
Value Chain Analysis of the Rice Sector Report
December 17, 2015
In Uganda, rice is the second most important cereal crop after maize in terms of production volume. It is mostly grown by smallholders for income although some of household production is retained for consumption. However, Uganda is a net importer of rice since domestic demand exceeds its supply/production.
According to the study, it is estimated that rice production in Uganda for the year 2010/11 was 233,000 MT, making it the second most important cereal, after maize. It is grown mostly for income generation although approximately 18% of household produce is used for food.
During the same period, producers sold about 84% of the rice they produced, up from 71% in 2005/06 and 55% in 1999/00. The implication is that the production of rice as business in Uganda is expanding rapidly. The increase in production of rice in Uganda is attributed to a combination of factors such as: appropriate government policy, intensive promotion of the commodity, availability of improved rice varieties and other relevant technologies and the increased consumption of rice driven mostly by rapid urbanization as well as the relatively high rate of population growth.
Report Highlights
- The report recommends facilitation of market and profit motivated adoption of the available technologies and practices at all levels of the value chain in the short term.
- It also recommends strengthening linkages between the production, processing and trading components of the value chain building on; the extent to which producers are involved in managing processing and trading in milled rice, the dominance of small scale processing facilities and the market presence of brands of large scale processors who are currently struggling to obtain enough paddy to mill.
- In the long term, the report recommends that investment in raising productivity in quality and quantity of aromatic rice which is the most preferred type, while lowering the cost of production, processing and marketing. This is recommended because, without raising production efficiency, it is difficult to achieve commercial adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies and practices.
