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The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), is set to introduce a new authority to harmonize regulation and enforcement of food safety and quality standards.

State Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Lt Col (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama Kanyontore during a media briefing at Protea Hotel in Entebbe.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF) is planning to establish a new authority to streamline the regulation and enforcement of food safety and quality standards on behalf of the government.

During a three-day consultative retreat on the principles for the Food and Agriculture Authority in Entebbe at the weekend, the State minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Lt Col (Rtd) Bright Rwamirama, said the authority would harmonise efforts by the government to ensure quality of both agricultural inputs and products.

Col Rwamirama said the consultations are geared towards accumulating extensive input, supplementing the existing framework documents, in order to formulate the core principles of a Bill to be presented to Parliament.

“The principles shall also provide for a system for producing quality, safe and suitable food for consumption. The system shall encapsulate rule-based Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary management and control approaches that enable compliance of agricultural products to animal and plant health and food safety requirements. This will enhance market access and competitiveness for food and agricultural products,” he added.

The inputs include agro-chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and acaricides , and animal drugs and vaccines such as fertilisers and machines used in processing and handling the inputs.

Experts at Kawanda demonstrate how basal fertilizer is applied. Fertilizers are among the inputs subject to regulation and control under the proposed principles for the new Food and Agriculture Authority.

Government also received support from Trade in Agriculture Safely and Efficiently in East Africa (TRASE) in mobilizing consultants, benchmarking and convening consultative meetings.

The Commissioner for Crop Inspection and Certification, Mr Paul Mwambu, said: “With the right quality of food, Uganda will compete better in the international market, grow existing markets and penetrate new markets.”

The FAO Country Representative, Mr Antonio Querido, said food safety holds paramount importance for Uganda’s economic development. He stressed that it ensures consumer trust and attracts other markets to the food produced in Uganda.

“We believe that having a regulatory authority that assures safety and quality is important because it’s going to change Uganda in terms of being the food basket. For us as FAO, our role is to support the government of Uganda to ensure that this new authority has the legal mandate, technical expertise and all it takes to ensure that the food produced here in Uganda for consumption is of quality, but equally good for other markets,” he said.