Identifying Market Opportunities for Urban and Peri-Urban Farmers in Kampala

Abstract

Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, has a population of approximately 1.2 million inhabitants that is growing at a rate of over 3.9% per year. The growth of the city represents a large expansion in markets for agricultural products. Many of these markets offer comparative advantages to producers and processors located in or close to the city. Agriculture is widely practiced both within the municipal boundaries and peri-urban areas. In 1992, it was estimated that 56% of land in the city was used for agriculture. The purpose of the study is to identify a portfolio of agricultural products with market demand, whose production is technically and economically feasible by urban and peri-urban farmers. The study has involved the following steps: a) a participatory rapid urban appraisal, b) a rapid market study, and c) an evaluation of the most promising options for urban and peri-urban farmers. This paper describes the methodology used and results obtained in the first two steps. The evaluation and selection of most promising options is on going. The rapid urban appraisal indicated that the most important commodities that farmers produce for sale are broilers, eggs, milk, pigs and pork, fruit (mango, avocado, jackfruit and paw paw), mushrooms and cocoyam. The major constraints to the production and marketing these commodities were determined. The rapid market study has identified the following market opportunities: poultry products (broilers, eggs and indigenous chicken), vegetables (leafy vegetables, tomato, carrot, onion, cocoyam, mushroom, cauliflower and red pepper), fruits (avocado, mango, paw paw, pineapple, watermelon, jackfruit, tangerine, apple, pear, orange), meat (beef and pork) and fresh milk. For all these products, information on purchasing requirements (quality, packaging, minimum volumes, frequency of delivery etc.) has been collected. This preliminary analysis indicates that there is demand for the commodities produced by Kampala farmers, and there are opportunities for producing a number of additional fruits and vegetables. The feedback of this information to farmers on the demand and requirements for these products, and their technical and economic production feasibility will provide the basis for consolidating enterprises that the farmers select as the most promising options.