Ugandan hotels and restaurants have been asked to serve delegates with
organic food during the Non- Alignment Movement (NAM) and G77+ China (G77) summits.
The appeal was made during a media briefing aimed at showcasing Uganda’s progress in organic agriculture ahead of the NAM and G77 summits.
According to an International Federation for Organic Agricultural Movements’
report for 2022–2023, Uganda is the leader in Africa and second to India worldwide in practicing organic farming.
Organic farming is the production of food without the use of synthetic and
harmful chemicals, such as pesticides, fertilizers, livestock feed additives or genetically modified components. It relies on alternative farming methods, including crop rotation, mechanical cultivation, the use of animal
and green manure and others.
“We appeal to ministries, departments and agencies, as well as hotels, restaurants and all those at the forefront of hosting the NAM and G77
summits to underscore the fact that Uganda is home to a broad range of safe, healthy, and organic foods and better yet, serve the delegates with
organic dishes. We implore private sector hotels and restaurants to cook and serve organic food for our guests during the two summits,’’ Chariton Namuwoza, the chief executive officer of the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda (NOGAMU), said during a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala yesterday.
The NAM summit will take place from January 15-20, while the G77 summit is
scheduled for January 20-23. Namuwoza pointed out that Uganda boasts excellent certified organic value-added products, such as organic sugar, cooking oil, fruit pulp, juices, dried fruits, spices, wine, roasted and powdered coffee and cocoa powder.
He added that the production and trade of organic products have rapidly expanded from cotton and chilli to include coffee, cocoa, sesame, vanilla,
chia and sunflower.
Namuwoza said the production of fresh and dried fruits, apple, banana,
mango, jackfruit, passion fruit, tomatoes, onions, ginger, papaya herbs, honey, sugar, oils, eggs, local chicken and fish had also scaled up. He said Hotel Africana has heeded their call to serve organic food to over 300
guests.
Namuwoza added that Uganda is one of the few countries in Africa with an
organic agriculture policy, a guiding framework for implementing organic
agriculture-related initiatives in the country. “This is a major milestone,
which puts the country on a firm path to exploiting its full potential in organic
agriculture,” he stated.
Namuwoza emphasised that: These two summits mean a lot to the organic industry in Uganda and Africa in general.
