President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni commissioned the De Heus Fish Feed Factory in Njeru, Buikwe District, the first of its kind in Uganda.
De Heus Uganda is a top fish feed manufacturer and aquaculture feed supplier in Uganda, and the company is part of Royal De Heus, a Dutch family-owned business active in milling for over 300 years. De Heus is one of the top ten animal nutrition companies globally.
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De Heus is best known in Uganda for its brand Koudijs, which has been active in the country since 2018 and leads in various livestock categories with its trusted quality.
Commissioning the factory, the President expressed gratitude to De Heus for helping Uganda to resolve the vital area of manufacturing fish feeds within the country.
He said he has already allocated land to them in Bukalasa to also produce poultry feeds.
President Museveni explained that during his recent countrywide tours on the Parish Development Model (PDM), it was brought to his attention that fish farmers had a challenge of feeds, which prompted him to direct UPDF’s National Enterprise Corporation to find ways of manufacturing them. However, with De Heus’ factory in place, Uganda has been relieved of that burden.
“This is really a very happy coincidence because recently I was touring the country checking on our PDM where fish farming is one of the seven activities for small farmers; coffee, fruits, dairy, food crops, poultry for eggs, piggery and fish farming. When I was touring, I was told the problem is fish feed. I didn’t know this was a problem because I thought we had planners in the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development,” he said.
“But now this is a better solution, than the one I was trying through the army company because first of all these people are bringing in new capital from outside which relieves us from finding budget money for the army company to produce the feeds. I will now ring the army people and tell them to do other things. Secondly, these are the people with long experience on how to do it well.”
He also assured the investors of ready and cheap raw materials that will enable them to manufacture the feeds.
President Museveni also reiterated his plan of helping farmers who grow rice in swamps to shift to more profitable fish farming at the periphery of wetlands.
“Rice growing in the swamps was a big mistake because it affects the rain system of Uganda. It is very dangerous,” he urged.
“I’m eyeing the USD 80 million which the Ambassador has announced here, you empower me so that we can come up with more fish-ponds like that in the Limoto and then win those people from the swamp to the periphery. We shall have very powerful fish rearing efforts in the whole country because the swamps are so many. They can absorb many of those youths.”
He however advised that rice growers who are not willing to shift to fish farming can resort to growing it on dry land or upland with the help of irrigation.
On the other hand, President Museveni revealed that Europe can do a lot of business in Uganda, noting that Africa has a ready market for manufactured products and services.
“I’m happy that the Netherlands have realized the importance of investment in Africa.”
The Minister of State for Fisheries, Hon. Hellen Adoa, thanked President Museveni for his visionary leadership that has created an enabling environment, critical for successful investments.
“The biggest challenge we have been having in the Agriculture Ministry is the issue of fish feed. It has been a big challenge. The fish in Uganda has not been having any feed except we had to import but now we manufacture it here,” she said.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Uganda, H.E Frederieke Quispel commended the good working relationship between her country and Uganda that has enabled De Heus to successfully invest in the East African country.
“The collaboration between Uganda and the Netherlands is at its best. Your Excellency, what makes both countries good partners in business, I think, it’s because we are both historical agricultural nations; our economies are built on agriculture. The Netherlands are the largest Foreign Direct Investors in Uganda,” she said.
“Your Excellency, your vision for Uganda’s economy is very clear and inspiring and I have to say that you instructed your ambassador very well because the first time I met the Ambassador, we moved along well immediately and what we talked about mostly was investment; promoting trade and investment between the Netherlands and Uganda. I must say your ambassador has a keen eye for investment opportunities and I think this factory would not be here without her effort.”
The Ambassador of Uganda to the Netherlands, H.E Mirjam Blaak Sow lauded the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the support and partnership with Uganda that has enabled investments to flourish.
“Since Ambassador Frederieke came to Uganda, she has really shown an energetic and youthful way of handling the matters. You are always ready to shake up where it is needed. We really appreciate it,” she noted.
The CEO of De Heus Animal Nutrition, Mr. Co de Heus revealed that to ensure that their investment in developing countries would be successful, they created a professional support organization in the Netherlands with the objective of making their foreign business unit equally professional like the mother company in the Netherlands.
“The support involves many disciplines from formulation, product management, quality control, production, animal husbandry training programs, raw material procurement to ICT and finance support,” he said.
“Our investments have always focused on growing demand and the need for capital and know-how. I think this tricky investment field explains to a larger extent why we became successful and became one of the leading animal nutrition companies in the whole world selling approximately 13 million tonnes of feed this year.”
He noted that supplying fish farmers with quality feed and supporting them with services that make them better farmers has also contributed to the success of their company.
The Managing Director of De Heus Uganda, Mr. Bon Tjeenk Willink thanked President Museveni for the support that has enabled the company to achieve such a milestone.
He also revealed that De Heus has been in Uganda’s fish sector since 2018.
“Fish here is not just any other product, it’s a large part of culture and many Ugandans love it. Uganda is one of the best places for our fish,” Mr. Bon said.
He also noted that Uganda has been relying on imported fish feeds but with the new factory in place, that is history now.
“For the last two years, we have invested nearly USD25 million and today before you, stands the largest fish feed factory in East Africa. At full capacity, this facility can produce up to 100,000 tonnes of fish feed each year, supporting 7000- 10,000 jobs.”
The event was also attended by the Minister of State in the office of the Vice President, also Buikwe District Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Diana Mutasingwa, Members of Parliament, among other leaders.
