President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni's government has allocated land to a Kenyan oil company in the latest bid to strengthen diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Making the announcement, Finance, Planning and Economic Development Minister, Matia Kasaija, noted that the decision to allocate land to Bidco Africa is aimed at boosting oil production in the region.
"We have partnered with Bidco to grow palm oil production in Kalangala and will provide more land to Bidco in Bukura Limited in Sango Bay to produce more palm oil," Kasaija stated in his communication.
The move to allocate land to Bidco Africa is a long term project between the two nations aimed at cutting the importation of the product from Russia, Ukraine, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Due to the dependency on seed oil from other nations, prices of the precious commodity in East Africa have skyrocketed by 21 per cent between December 2021 to February 2022.
According to the Minister, Uganda is capitalising on the global shortage of palm oil to increase its production of the commodity.
Bidco is currently working with over 30,000 farmers within the East African region who supply it with soya beans and sunflower for the manufacturing of fats and edible oil products.
“Furthermore, the ongoing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine – the two nations that account for half of the global supply of palm oil, substitutes have exacerbated the global shortages resulting in higher prices of raw materials,” he remarked.
He, however, warned unscrupulous traders against hiking the prices due to the situation.
"We are working with the relevant agencies to investigate this matter and we will take action against any operators found to be engaged in this practice," he warned.
Kenya and Uganda mutually depend on each other. Uganda, being a landlocked country, uses the port of Mombasa to import its goods.
On the other hand, Kenya acquires most of its agricultural products such as milk, eggs and sugar from Uganda.
