Egyptian firm Egypt-Uganda Food Security has invested $11 million in a modern abattoir, located 32km north of Kampala near Bombo town in Luwero district, central Uganda. The abattoir will process and package meat — mainly beef — both local and export markets.
The Egypt-Uganda Food Security abattoir has the ability to slaughter 1,000 cows daily and can hold up to 5,000 animals waiting to be slaughtered. It also has coolers, skinning equipment and a processing plant as part of the standard equipment demanded by Kampala City Council Authority and the Uganda National Bureau of Standards.
With more than 17 million heads of cattle alone, Uganda has a big population of livestock, but as a market, it has a shortfall of 900,000 tonnes a year for both processed and unprocessed beef products, data from the Uganda Meat Producers Co-operative Union Ltd shows.
“There is an export potential to the East African Community. Uganda’s location will also make it easy to process, package and distribute our products in regional export markets,” said Hassan Fath-allah, the proprietor of the abattoir.
Industry players say demand is growing ahead of supply; in 2014 -2015, a total of 220,000 to 230,000 tonnes of beef was produced, a jump from 191,280 tonnes and in 2012, and 107,000 tonnes in 2008. Supply is severely constrained by the current beef production system — largely subsistence and primarily of slow maturing indigenous breeds, with a very slow transition to commercial production.
According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the population of cattle today is over 17 million — up from 11.4 million registered in 2008 when UBOS conducted a livestock census. In the same year, Uganda also had 12.5 million goats, 3.4 million sheep, 3.2 million pigs and 37.4 million heads of poultry.
There are only two meat processing companies with recognisable standards in the country, namely, Quality Fresh Cuts, and Rosa. These have been in production for over eight years but cannot meet the growing demand that is a result of population growth rate.
Uganda imports processed meat products from Kenya, although this has caused trade disputes, that recently prompted the intervention of Presidents Yoweri Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta.
“With the diversity of the products it is intended for and structured to produce, Egypt-Uganda Food Security expects to contribute towards the bridging of the gap between the supply and demand of beef and its by-products in Uganda,” Mr Fath-allah said
The old players in the sector have witnessed a number of shifts in the trends of the demand and supply of these products. For instance, Quality/Fresh Cuts, a prominent meat processing firm in Kampala, produces over 100 tonnes of meat, 60 per cent of which is for the local market, and the remainder for export.
According to Uganda Meat Producers Co-operative Union Ltd chief executive Dr Joshua Waiswa, most abattoirs in Uganda are substandard, with limited hygiene measures, while in the countryside, slaughter slabs are used as abattoirs. Such beef fails handling and packaging standards for high end consumers.
“It’s not true that the factories have failed to meet the demand. Most Ugandans prefer freshly cut meat bought fresh after slaughter. Consumption of processed meat products is still a preserve of the high-end market in Uganda,” he added.
Source: The East African

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