October 13, 2022

Uganda's feed producers and poultry farmers at odds over import duty

Ugandan animal feed manufacturers under the umbrella body, the Uganda Animal Feeds Manufacturers Association(UAFMA), told the country's parliament that a import duty of 10% and VAT of 18% by URA on concentrate feed will help protect local industries from unfair competition from imports.

However, local poultry farmers protested the import duty and VAT, arguing that they will see the prices of eggs and poultry products increase.

UAFMA members recently made their case before the Parliamentary Committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry chaired by the Mbarara City South MP Mwine Mpaka.

"We support the tax because… (this) is going to help our economy to develop its own capacity to manufacture animal and poultry feeds," said Aimable Mbarushimana, a member of UAFMA. "One of the lessons we have learned from COVID is self-sustenance and supporting local manufacturers is one of the ways in doing this.

"We need to have capacity building since what we import from outside can be be manufactured locally."

With the import duty, local feed manufacturers can be empowered to limit the import of animal feed concentrate.

"From 2001, we started a programme to help support farmers produce sunflower locally and reduce on importing,"  said Tony Gadhoke, chief executive officer of Mukwano Industries. "This programme has been a huge success with over 100,000 farmers documented to have benefited from growing sunflower and soya beans that they supply to us but over the years, many have run out of business because we (could not) buy all that they produce because of the lack of market for our locally manufactured animal feeds. This is attributed to the importation of feed concentrate into the country."

"We can't afford to have a country that imports everything including what it can produce locally," said David Waliggo, a policy, legal and tax consultant with UAFMA. "We need to protect our market from foreign dumping. We need to protect our country by imposing VAT and import duty on items coming from abroad."

Committee chairperson Mwine Mpaka urged UAFMA to return with proper documents indicating the capacity of the local manufacturers to produce feed concentrate and animal feed locally.

- Nile Post