Presidents Museveni woos Iranian Investors, says country open for technology transfer, modern agro production

President Museveni meeting investors from Zanjan provice in Iran President Yoweri Museveni has said Uganda’s soils are rich for agricultural production but has a gap in agro processing, adding that the country needs investors with the technology and savings to build factories and also the entrepreneurship to run them.

The President was meeting local Iranian investors mainly businessmen from Zanjan Province in Iran led by the governor of Zanjan Province Mohammad Raoofinejad and his deputy Saeed Abbasi at his residence at the Persian Evin Hotel in Tehran.

The group included businessmen interested in investing in projects turning sugarcane waste into ingredients for making tyres and brakes led by the Vice chairman Iran- Africa Economic Cooperation Council Dr. Parvis Karbasi and the President of the Group of Donya Macnoon, Morteza Ruzitalab.

“Uganda is very rich in agriculture production and crops grow easily even without using fertilizer. When we use chemical fertilizer the yields would be much higher. We are working to build a fertilizer factory in Tororo and with our oil we can produce nitrogen from gas. The moment we add fertilizer and also use irrigation, production will be very high,@ he said.

He hailed the business men who are already in the process of building a modern abattoir in Masaka for being enterprising, adding that the quality of Ugandan meat, especially from the long horned cattle in the region is of high quality especially given its yellow fat with is low in cholesterol.

“That meat is a gold mine. If we get a market and process it, it tastes better than meat elsewhere,” he said.

The President said other areas that need agro processing include maize milling and processing for flour and animals feed, saying the country currently exports maize as grain to countries in the region especially Kenya and South Sudan at a loss.

The President welcomed other proposed projects including  new technology in affordable housing units, a free trade zone to boost trade in the region and turning sugar cane waste into butanol, a four-carbon alcohol that’s used in paints, adhesives, inks and other solvents. N-butanol is traditionally made from propylene, a petroleum product, and may be converted into other chemicals that are used to manufacture products such as tires, plastics and jet fuel.

The meeting was attended by the Uganda Ambassador M. Kisuule, Members of Parliament from Uganda.