By Kyobuguzi Aggrey (kyobuguziaggrey@gmail.com)
The current ‘war’ between Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump that has since sucked in other powerful world leaders belonging to the G7 (UK,Italy,France,Japan,Germany) plus (Canada & US) was caused by MILK.
Canadian Dairy farmers just like their Ugandan counterparts are very influential in National politics. As a result of the influence exerted on Canadian government by Dairy farmers, government put trade barriers to protect them against US Dairy farmers.
Canada charges US a 270 percent tariff on US Dairy products in order to protect its farmers. As a result a Canadian farmer earns C$0.79 per Litre whereas a US farmer gets C$0.49 per Litre of Milk. This is disturbing Trump, Dairy farmers from Wisconsin (US’s equivalent of Kashaari of Uganda in terms of milk production) are closing shop because of Milk over production!.Wisconsin Dairy farmers and other US Dairy farmers are putting Trump administration on pressure to negotiate better markets for their Dairy products.
Ugandan Dairy farmers like their Canadian counterparts have considerable influence in national politics. The cattle corridor plus other milk producing villages have a number of policy makers, the question is, why can’t our political Dairy farmers influence policy and stabilize the price of milk? Why should a litre of milk from Bwizibwera compete favorably with a litre of milk from Githunguri in Kyanja Supermarket?
Why should we continue to allow in (Milk from Kenya, Apples from South Africa, and Maize from Brazil….) without imposing serious tax to help us boost our tax base rather than taxing social media?
The writer is a Livestock Development Consultant at Kentim University (Project) Uganda
