By Daniel Mwesigwa

A delegation from Elite Agro, an agro processing company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in Uganda for a 5 day scouting exercise for investment opportunities in the agro processing sector.

The business delegation is headed by Dr. Abdul Monen Almarzooqi, the Executive Director and Board Member Elite Group.  

The National Agricultural Advisor Services (NAADS) confirmed the visit Saturday on their Twitter page.

NAADS says the investor was wooed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to come and invest in Uganda during his visit to the ongoing Dubai Expo 2020.

According to NAADS, the company has expressed interest in establishing 7 tea processing factories in Uganda.

“We have seen Uganda’s potential in producing quality tea and we would like to establish factories to add value to this tea,” – Dr. Abdul Monem Almarzooqi is quoted to have said.

According to Executive Director NAADS Samuel Mugasi, Uganda currently produces 72,567 metric tons of green leaf annually, above the capacity of the 32 existing tea factories.

“The investment by Elite Agro will provide an additional market to farmers,” Mugasi says.

Since 2015, the Government of Uganda through NAADS under the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) has distributed over 500 million tea seedlings to farmers in tea growing districts resulting in increased production.

In a tweet hours ago, MAAIF Minister, Frank Tumwebaze said “Fruits of attending #DubaiExpo2020 beginning to get ripe.”

Tumwebaze says this was one of deals sealed at the Expo.