Milk dilema deepens as foot and mouth disease strikes

The ongoing Foot and Mouth disease outbreak in Uganda presents yet another challenge for dairy farmers and milk vendors in Uganda, following quarantine measures that do not permit the movement of animals or their products from infected regions to non-infected areas.

Infected areas have majorly been affected by the stoppage of slaughtering of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs or selling or consuming of animal products such as milk, ghee, meat, skins and hides. Critical to note are quarantined districts within the cattle corridor including Mubende, Kiruhura, Kyegegwa, Mbarara, Sembabule among others, a measure that has negatively affected dairy farmer’s livelihood.

Sendikadiwa Alex, a dairy farmer based in Sembabule district said that since the outbreak of the Foot and Mouth disease early this year, he and several cooperative dairy farmers within his locality have been affected because they are neither permitted to sell milk to the Milk Collection Centers or the locals nor slaughter their animals, which has affected their livelihood.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Tayebwa Thomas has noted that affected farmers whose livelihoods depend on animals need immediate intervention.

This ongoing Foot and Mouth crisis is an addition to an already soaring milk industry that has over the past year seen several businesses in Uganda decry unfair trade relations within the East African Community. A case example is the continuous non-issuance of milk export permits by the Kenya Dairy Board to numerous milk producers in Uganda.

Kenya has reportedly been the leading buyer of Uganda’s milk products, although the trade relations have not been consistent due to several barriers, prompting Uganda’s milk producers to search for new markets for their milk and milk products such as Algeria, Europe and the Middle East. One of the leading producers in Uganda, Brookside Limited was hit hard by the milk ban which led to the laying off of over 100 staff in July 2023, following a drop in its exported products to Kenya.

The milk industry continues to soar with all the ongoing challenges and requires immediate intervention.