Towards Equitable Agriculture Development in Uganda: A look at the Terms of Trade amongst Stakeholders

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2008, the share of agriculture in GDP fell rapidly while that of industry registered impressive growth rates in Uganda. Whilst this decline is mainly on account of growth in other sectors, it is also true that agricultural productivity has been on the decline as a result of limited application of scientific methods and inputs among other shortcomings. Notwithstanding the decline in its performance, the agriculture sector contributes significantly to Uganda’s employment and the number of people working in the sector has been increasing since the 1990’s, as evidenced by Figure 1 below. Available evidence indicates that the majority of those employed in the sector are subsistence farmers and fishermen. Besides this, the sector currently generates 45 percent of export earnings. Coffee, tobacco, tea, cotton, cocoa, cut flowers, and maize are the major exports, while oilseeds, sugarcane, fish and livestock provide raw materials for the expanding agro-processing sector that supplies both domestic and export trade.