President Yoweri Museveni said he is aiming at achieving 20 billion litres of milk per year for the local, regional and international market, clarifying that Uganda's problem has been processing.
The President was yesterday meeting Amos Dairy Investors led by their Chairman, Dewan C. Pruthi, and co-chairmen Punit Pruthi and Surinder Chawla at State House Entebbe.
The investors will officially open their milk plant at Akageti, in Kiruhura district which will process over two million litres of milk per year.
Another new plant in Mbarara, Pearl Dairies is already producing over 200 litres of processed milk per day.
"On the issue of farm improvement, am going to talk to the farmers to handle this. In the past, there was no demand for milk or beef but now with the demand going up, we shall have to improve our farms. We did not have processors before but once we have these, it is easy to work backwards," he said.
The President said the quality of the cows has to improve through artificial insemination, improved pasture and grass and quality water dams to reduce the distance the cows walk to drink.
According to reports Uganda was producing over 200 million litres of milk per year for local consumption in 1989.
With commercial linkages between the countryside and townships, production grew to over 1.8 billion litres a year in 10 years.
The President urged Amos Diaries to entice more investors to process fruits and herbs in partnership with Ugandan scientists.
The President was happy to note that Uganda is a leading producer of a local herb pygeum and exports over 15 containers to France and UK in a month.
Pygeum is a herbal remedy containing extracts from the bark of Prunus Africana.
It is used to alleviate some of the discomfort caused by inflammation in patients suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate).
Bark extract is marketed under the brand-names of Pigenil in Italy and Tadenan in France and used commonly in its natural forms in traditional African medicine.
Amos Dairies Ltd is an Indian Company with Headquarters in New Delhi India. Dawan C. Pruthi the chairman of Amos Diaries Ltd, hailed the Government of Uganda for providing a conducive atmosphere for investment in Uganda under the leadership of President Museveni.
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