Uganda to lose external agricultural market due to poor output

Organic farming is growing at a rate of nearly 40% per year with an estimated 185,000 hectares of land under use, with about 200,000 certified organic agriculture farmers in Uganda, the country risks losing its market due to the stringent Maximum Residue Levels rules in European countries. Maximum residue levels (MRLs) are the upper legal levels of pesticide residues in food or feed that are meant to ensure the lowest possible consumer exposure. In April this year, the government of Uganda imposed a ban on the exportation of pepper to Europe after numerous complaints that Ugandan exporters were supplying poor quality agriculture produce that consisted of harmful organisms in line with stringent EU requirements. According to a Canadian professor Matthew A Schnurr, a study on GMOs in Uganda, showed how scientists from developing countries are being co-opted into studies to help seed multinationals make money and in the process the livelihoods of communities risk destruction. Prof Schnurr’s study quotes fears by activists that growing GMOs will undermine the livelihoods of smallholder farmers by supplanting their ecologically resilient seeds.