PACEID Promotes Regional Centres to Drive Export-Led Industrialisation

What the report says

PACEID has begun promoting Regional Aggregation Centres as part of Uganda’s push toward export-led industrialisation, according to Nile Post. The Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development says the model is intended to move processing, storage, quality control and export-related services closer to farming areas, rather than sending raw commodities out of the region first.

The report says the sensitisation drive included a meeting on Monday at Kamugasha Mixed Farm in Mbarara City, where PACEID briefed journalists and local leaders from western Uganda. PACEID Chairperson Odrek Rwabwogo said the initiative is meant to help Uganda earn more from products such as beef, dairy, coffee and bananas by adding value near where they are produced. He argued that organised production, reliable logistics and local processing are needed for the country to compete in international markets.

PACEID says the centres could also reduce transport costs and post-harvest losses, improve traceability, and make it easier for products to meet export standards. The model is expected to support a wide range of sectors, including livestock, grains, poultry, fish, fruits, tea, vanilla, cocoa and sugar. The organisation also says the approach could create jobs across the value chain, from farmers and transporters to processors, warehouse workers and technical staff.

Ibanda District Chairperson Happy Herbert Mayanja welcomed the idea, saying it could help tackle youth unemployment and raise farmers’ incomes. PACEID, created in 2022, says its wider mandate is to identify export opportunities, remove barriers and coordinate stakeholders around industrial development and value addition.