TRENDS AND IMPACTS OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY AGRICULTURE

UGANDA
Trends and impacts of foreign investment in
developing country agriculture
CHART 5
Industry linkages in the flower, fish and coffee sectors
Negative impacts: Increasing demand has
squeezed out (local) companies
Increased competition for limited supplies of
fish from new players has led to the closure of
most of the domestic-owned fish processing
factors. Whereas the TNCs have used their
ample resources to consolidate operations or to
expand to new landing sites in search of fish,
the domestic companies have not been able to
sustain operations and have closed. Three of the
four Ugandan-owned fish processing companies
have closed down: Gomba Fish Industries Ltd,
Ngege Ltd; and Byansi Fisheries Ltd.
6.11 Community impacts
Transnational corporations have contributed
to the increased provision of social services
and increasing demand for goods and services
in the communities where they operate.
With the exception of the new companies
(those established after 2007), all of the firms
interviewed reported that they contribute to their
communities in various ways (Box 9).
Some domestic-owned companies also
reported community programmes that they are
directly engaged in, for example, construction of
a local borehole, supply of fish to orphanages,
providing scholastic materials, construction of
community toilets and allowing the community
150
PACKAGING
PUMPS
BOOTS
Source: Derived from field interviews
TRUCKS
FLOWER
TRANSFORMERS
AGRIC INPUTS
e.g. Fertilizers,
chemcials
MACHINERY SPARES
COFFEE
FISH
to access medical services provided by the
company for its workers. Most of these benefits
are provided by companies in the flower sector.
The flower companies are more involved than
the coffee and fish processing and exporting
companies because of their direct involvement in
the production chain. A survey of five flower farms
and the communities in which they are located,
conducted in 2003, revealed very positive findings
in terms of socio-economic impact. The survey
covered five flower farms, 25 retail shops, nine
clinics/ drug stores, and over 100 employees of the
flower farms (Donohue, 2003: vi). A summary of
some of the relevant findings are outlined below:
Increased business: Slightly less than half
(44 percent) of the shopkeepers indicated
that most of their customers were employed
on the nearby farm. Similarly, five out of the
nine drug stores indicated that most of their
patients/customers were employed by the
flower farm;
Increased medications: Seven of the nine
drugstores noted that the availability of
medications had improved dramatically
since the establishment of the flower farm;
Land purchase: 18 percent of employees
were able to buy themselves land;
Building a house: 11 percent of employees
were able to build their own house;
ICE