A new study on alternatives to the oil and gas development has suggested that the coffee cash crop offers Uganda absolute advantage, with potential to generate an estimated $3b (Shs10 trillion) annually in earnings by 2030, if only the government can get the building blocks, such as massively rallying smallholder farmers, right. Conversely, according to the study titled “Economic Alternatives to Oil and Gas Development in Uganda” released last Wednesday, petro-revenues, from the sale of crude oil when commercial oil production starts somewhere in 2028, average between $1.5b and $2b (Shs5.4 trilion – Shs7.4 trillion) annually, “which is less compared” to earnings from coffee.
This is not to mention the energy transition fog suffusing the oil industry. The study commissioned by the extractives advocacy, Global Right Alert, non-governmental organisation, also draws parallels on the experiences of Ghana, which announced commercial oil finds in 2007 — months after Uganda’s announcement on October 8, 2006 — and started production in 2010, and Senegal which announced commercial oil finds in 2014 and started production in 2024.