EDITOR—Ever since Sameer Agriculture and Livestock took over the defunct Uganda Dairy Corporation, the economic status of a dairy farmer has never improved!

The company has continued to get almost free milk from dairy farmers and selling it to final consumers at exorbitant prices. Sameer pays a farmer only sh290 per litre of milk when the market price, especially in Kampala is sold between sh1,200 and 1500!
Even if there are operating and production costs, this gap is quite abnormal.

Dairy farmers are in a tricky situation especially when the prices of essential products are high. A farmer needs to sell nine litres of milk to buy a kilogramme of sugar! The situation is getting out hand and dairy farmers in Uganda need help. What accounts for the huge gap between sh290 and 1500?

Is it possible to modernise agriculture when the producers are paid peanuts by the middlemen? What is the relevance of the National Farmers Association and the Dairy Development Authority to the farmers?

Nixon Kamukama
MUBS