Agriculture accounted for 26.2% of Uganda’s GDP in the 2025/2026 financial year, but the government says livestock vaccination, tractor acquisition and the construction of mechanisation centres remain works in progress.
Agriculture sector grew by 6.4% in the 2025/2026 financial year, exceeding its 10-year average of 4.2%, although gaps remain in livestock vaccination, agricultural mechanisation and the establishment of planned facilities.
Presenting a statement on the sector’s performance to Parliament, Agriculture Minister Frank Tumwebaze, who is also the Kibale East County MP, said agriculture now accounts for 26.2% of Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said about 7.1 million of the country’s 10.8 million households depend on agriculture for employment, underscoring the sector’s contribution to livelihoods and the national economy.
Tumwebaze also highlighted an increase in cocoa earnings, which he said rose from $93 million in the 2022/2023 financial year to $620 million, reflecting the crop’s growing contribution to export earnings.
However, the minister’s statement outlined challenges affecting the implementation of government agricultural programmes, particularly the provision of farm inputs, livestock disease control and mechanisation.
On coffee production, Tumwebaze said Cabinet had made an exception to the policy requiring farmers to purchase their own inputs through the Parish Development Model (PDM), allowing the distribution of 24,437,367 coffee seedlings to northern Uganda.
The intervention was intended to promote coffee growing in the region and expand production beyond the country’s traditional coffee-growing areas.
On livestock health, the minister said farmers were now required to pay for foot-and-mouth disease vaccines, with 80,000 farmers having enrolled in the programme so far.
He attributed the limited uptake partly to expectations that government should provide the vaccines free of charge, as well as misconduct among some veterinary personnel.
Tumwebaze cited “to some extent the indiscipline and or corruption of the lower-level veterinary staff” as one of the factors affecting the programme.
The minister also reported progress in agricultural mechanisation, saying government had deployed 1,080 tractors since 2018 against a target of acquiring 10,000 tractors over the next five years.
Construction has started at four of the 21 planned agricultural mechanisation centres, while a proposed tractor cost-sharing arrangement is awaiting Cabinet approval.
The centres are intended to improve farmers’ access to machinery and boost productivity through mechanised farming.
Tumwebaze further told Parliament that a proposed oil palm development loan backed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for the Busoga sub-region would be presented to the House when it was ready.
He also asked Parliament to prioritise consideration of a Bill seeking to establish a Food and Agricultural Regulatory Authority, which is intended to strengthen the regulation of food and agricultural products.
The minister’s statement comes as government pursues agricultural commercialisation, value addition and increased production, while the figures presented point to outstanding work in expanding access to essential farm services and equipment.
Members of Parliament are expected to debate the statement on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.