Royal De Heus, parent company to Koudijs, a leading livestock feed provider in Uganda, held the ground breaking ceremony for its new plant to be built in Njeru, near Jinja.
The plant will be the first dedicated aquafeed plant in Uganda. At capacity it produces approximately 50 thousand metric tons of fish feed per year for the East African market. The state-of-the-art factory should be operational towards the second half of next year.
Fish is important nutrition for Uganda and contributes to food security. A stagnating or decreasing wild catch combined with a rapidly growing population is increasing demand for farmed fish. Uganda has considerable potential for aquaculture with its large lakes and attractive water temperatures, which allow year-round fish farming.
The launch of this plant will be a positive impulse for aquaculture in Uganda and surrounding countries. The industry has shown promising growth in recent years, but needs affordable, reliable quality feeds to further develop. Feeds are currently imported. A local factory of De Heus will produce feed with a shorter, flexible supply chain.
Bon Tjeenk Willink, the General Manager for De Heus Uganda, stated that De Heus “will build on the Koudijs reputation for consistent high quality feed. Soon, with local feed production, the business case for fish farmers should improve significantly and we are confident more people will start and grow fish farms”.
The plant itself will bring employment, but its real impact on employment will be with fish farmers and with its suppliers, the farmers, as De Heus will replace import and aims to source raw materials such as maize, cassava, soy and others locally as much as possible.
De Heus brings a combination of global experience & expertise together with a background in Dutch agricultural innovation. Theo Smalbraak, De Heus Business Group Director Africa & Middle East, commented said, “at De Heus we believe in the potential of Africa and that is why we are investing in expanding our footprint: in South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, and recently with modern factories in Ghana and Ivory Coast. And now in Uganda. We are privileged to receive our honored guests to celebrate this special occasion celebrating the ground breaking ceremony and are immensely thankful for the support from our partners, the government and local authorities, the Dutch embassy and other business relations.
De Heus Animal Nutrition is a family company, established in 1911 and now run and owned by the 4th generation. With almost 100 factories in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the company has expanded fast and is in the top 10 of global feed companies. De Heus operates two global brands De Heus & Koudijs, and in Uganda aquafeed will be sold under De Heus, while other livestock feeds are sold under the Koudijs brand.
