Agriculture

Agriculture has for several years formed the backbone of Uganda’s economy contributing approximately 37% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Agricultural products contribute nearly all of Uganda's foreign exchange earnings, with coffee (of which Uganda is Africa's leading producer) contributing the largest percentage of 19% of the country's exports. Exports of non-traditional products, including hides, skins, vanilla, vegetables, fruits, cut flowers, and fish are growing, while traditional exports such as cotton, tea, and tobacco continue to be mainstays.

Floriculture is the fasted growing industry in the agricultural sector. This growth is largely attributed to the suitability of the climate for the growing of chrysanthemums which are considered to be profitable.

The sector has benefited from recent efforts by the Government of Uganda towards strengthening of the Country’s competitive advantage in the agricultural production sector. Projects commissioned recently include;

• Kaweri Coffee plantation, based in Mubende, is the first large-scale Robusta coffee farm in Uganda. The Kaweri Coffee plantation covers an area measuring 2,524 hectares
• A US$ 150 million investment in edible oil by BIDCO Uganda Limited which has established a palm oil plantation that, on completion, will cover 40,000 hectares of oil palms and produce 140,000 tonnes of palm kernel oil.

PricewaterhouseCoopers provides services to the main agricultural companies producing coffee, tobacco, flowers and sugar in Uganda. These include Kawacom Uganda Limited, Kaweri Coffee Plantation Limited, British American Tobacco Uganda Limited, The Wagagai Group of Companies, Kakira Sugar Works Limited and BIDCO Uganda Limited.

With the introduction of International Accounting Standard 41 – Agriculture (“the Standard”), PricewaterhouseCoopers played an active role in advising several key players in the industry on complying with the challenging requirements of this Standard.