Ugandans consume milk in small quantities although country exports excess

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - Jerome Muwanga claims he last drank milk three months ago, when he visited the home of a village leader.

“I enjoy drinking milk, but I can’t afford to buy it. I only drink it when I visit the homes of rich people, like when I last visited our village chief, Tom Mutebi, in early February,” Muwanga, from the central Ugandan district of Buikwe, told Anadolu Agency.

He is not alone.

Harriet Nakacwa, the mother of two children living in the Wandegeya Trading Center on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, Kampala, said she buys a liter of milk each week for her baby, who recently stopped breastfeeding. “The rest of us take tea without milk.”

According to agriculture officer Nelson Mugale, the number of families in Uganda who own cows is less than 10%, but the milk they produce cannot all be consumed by locals.

- Why most Ugandans cannot afford milk

A liter of one of the most popular brands of packed milk in Uganda costs 3,400 Ugandan shillings (about $1).

Few Ugandans can afford to purchase milk. Even unprocessed milk cannot be bought by most people because it is sold for 2,500 shillings ($0.68) per liter.

Poverty is the main reason most people cannot afford to buy milk, said Leonard Mukwasi, a businessman in Kampala. He said Ugandans want to drink milk but are constrained by the scarcity of money.

“In Uganda, GDP per capita is $817. This means on average, every Ugandan lives on $2.20 per day. You cannot expect someone spending $2 per day to buy expensive milk,” Charles Oola, an economics teacher at St. James Secondary School in eastern Uganda, told Anadolu Agency.

The transport factor also makes milk expensive. Places where cattle are kept are hundreds of miles from cities and towns.

Some roads in milk-producing areas are full of potholes, making transportation expensive.

“The roads in the areas where we collect milk are in a poor state, making transport costs high. That contributes to an increase in the price of milk once it reaches Kampala and other towns,” said Henry Kanyankore, a milk dealer in Kampala.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who owns thousands of cows at his various farms, said he was not happy with the low level of milk consumption. Uganda was producing 200 million liters in 1986 but it has increased to 2.2 billion liters, according to Museveni.

He made the remarks recently at the East Africa Law Society’s annual conference in Entebbe.

“In 1986, milk consumption was 18 liters per capita per annum, but it has gone up to 60 liters per capita per annum. But still, milk consumption is below the recommended 200 liters per person per annum by the World Health Organization,” he said.

He said Ugandans drink 800 million liters of milk per year, leaving a surplus of 1.4 billion liters, which is exported.

Edward Kasawuzi, a senior veterinary officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, said milk is expensive because of the high expense incurred by cattle keepers.

“Cattle keepers face many problems, and that is why they sell their milk at high prices. Animal drugs are very expensive, and some unscrupulous traders mix maize brand with sawdust which affects animal output,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Uganda’s Dairy Development Authority said although per capita consumption in Uganda is still low, it is increasing steadily. It urged Ugandans to drink milk because it makes them healthy.