Beyond the Low-Hanging Fruit: The Grit, Capital, and Vision Required to Industrialise Rural Uganda Uganda’s fertile soils keep producing, yet tonnes of fruit still rot in gardens across the country. Nilezilla’s Yumbe facility argues the fix is value addition, but that shift needs billions, not “pocket change.” By processing at the source, the factory cuts losses, builds rural jobs, and channels income directly to farmers.

For decades, the story of Uganda’s agriculture has been one of bittersweet potential. We sing about being the Pearl of Africa, blessed with fertile soils and two rain seasons, yet every harvest, we watch heart-wrenching scenes of mangoes, oranges, and tomatoes rotting in the gardens of Teso, Acholi, Lango, and West Nile. At Nilezilla, when we set out to change this narrative with our fruit processing facility in Lodonga, Yumbe District, we learned quickly that “potential” does not pay the bills. Value addition does. But moving from a garden to a supermarket shelf is not a simple walk in the…