Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Creation and Development of Market Institutions
123
Classification Institution Description
based industries). The NFA manages more than 500 central forest
reserves in order to provide a high quality supply of forestry-related
products and is a semi-autonomous body established in 2003.
Permits, license fees, and tax collection are among the
responsibilities of the NFA, which are effectively carried out by the
district forestry services.298
Licensed Public
Warehouse
Company
Warehouse
Receipt System
Authority
As part of the MAAIF’s policy to improve market infrastructure for
storage and post-harvest handling, the Uganda Warehouse Receipt
System Authority (UWRSA) has been established in 2006 to oversee
the WRS. 299 Smallholders store their produces at the warehouse,
which has been constructed by a private sector enterprise, and pay
a fee in return for a coupon they can cash out at the bank. In
addition, this also improves smallholders’ access to credit as their
stored produces could function as collateral. 300
Commodity
Exchange
Platform
Uganda
Commodity
Exchange
The establishment of the Uganda Commodity Exchange (UCE) can
be put in the context of the high potential of commodity exchanges
as recognized by international donors such as USAID and WFP. 301
UCE is an attempt to regulate standards. It is proposed to transform
this commodity exchange into a regional commodities exchange
although this initiative is still in its nascent stage. 302 The UCE is most
likely to get operational in 2017 and is a PPP, where the
Government of Uganda owns 20% of the shares, complemented by
private sector investors and individuals. 303
Source: Investment Consulting Associates – ICA (2017)
5.3.3 Effectiveness of Agricultural & Food Market Institutions
The precise impact of the selected institutions as described in section 5.3.2 on the effectiveness
of Uganda’s agricultural and food market is difficult to pinpoint. Most evidence is available on
the efficiency of UWRSA, which has been challenged as there has not been enough quantity to
store, leading the warehouses function as “white elephants”.304 This requires the creation of
farmer groups and cooperatives to improve the volume of products to be stored and, hence,
the performance of UWRSA and the agricultural market system, particularly post-harvest
handling and storage. The efficiency of the UWRS is further challenged as it is unclear to
smallholders how much they can receive when exchanging their storage coupons.305
5.3.4 Need Assessment Analysis
The objective of this section is to identify and select certain crops, products, or commodity
groups for which a need exists to create a market institution and to further develop existing
agricultural and food market institutions facing inefficiencies and deficiencies.
298 WTO (2012), Trade Policy Review: East African Community, Geneva: World Trade Organization: Geneva.
299 Interview conducted with Ministry of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives in Kampala, June 7, 2017
300 Interview conducted with Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries, and Fish in Kampala, June 9, 2017
301 FAO (2014), The challenges of managing agricultural price and production risks in sub-Saharan Africa, available at
Accessed May 2017].
302 Interview conducted with Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Kampala, June 7, 2017
303 Interview conducted with Ministry of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives in Kampala, June 7, 2017
304 Interview conducted with Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries, and Fish in Kampala, June 9, 2017
305 Interview conducted with Ministry of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives in Kampala, June 7, 2017