On November 20, 2025, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attended a ceremony in Kamuli, Uganda, marking the shipment of dried Ugandan chili peppers to China and delivered a speech. A year earlier, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement allowing the supply of dried Ugandan chili peppers to the Chinese market. (Xinhua/Ronald Sekandi)
Kamuli, Uganda, November 21 (Xinhua) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attended a ceremony to send the first batch of dried chili peppers to China. A year ago, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement allowing this agricultural product to enter the Chinese market.
On Thursday, Museveni inaugurated the dispatch of an 11-ton shipment from the eastern Kamuli district. For the past several months, some local communities have been cultivating this crop in collaboration with the China-Uganda Agricultural Industrial Park, supported by a South-South cooperation project between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and China and Uganda.
Museveni praised China’s long-standing cooperation with Africa for common development and called on more farmers to grow cash crops, which he described as a gold mine that could create wealth and eradicate poverty.
Museveni stated, “They (China) supported us during the anti-colonialist struggle. Now we have very close trade relations with them, and they are conducted on an equal footing. They are not arrogant. Therefore, we will go even further.”
During the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September 2024, Uganda and China signed a protocol on the export of dried chili peppers and wild seafood to China. In June of this year, China also announced the introduction of a 100% customs regime for all 53 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China.
At the launch ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong announced that as of August, total trade between China and Uganda had reached a record high of $1.31 billion. “Of this amount, China’s imports from Uganda amounted to approximately $100 million, a 100.1% increase from the previous year,” Ambassador Zhang said.
He stated that the launch ceremony marks another fruitful achievement in bilateral cooperation. He added that since 2012, China has dispatched more than 50 agricultural experts to Uganda under the FAO-China-Uganda Strategic Cooperation Project, providing technical training and advice to over 20,000 local farmers.
According to Zhang Xiaoqiang, head of the Chinese agricultural expert team for the third phase of the project, the opening ceremony was the result of joint efforts between the industrial park and Chinese agricultural experts.
Mr. Zhang stated, “We provide our partner farmers with high-quality chili pepper seeds and planting technologies. The farmers grow the chili peppers according to our recommendations and production standards, and then the industrial park purchases the harvested peppers and supplies high-quality products to the Chinese market.” He noted that this model effectively facilitates technology transfer and profit generation.
The China-Uganda Agricultural Industrial Cooperation Park, located in Luwero, central Uganda, was built by the Sichuan Kehong Group in southwest China. Currently, three cooperative chili pepper production and training bases operate in Uganda.
According to Luo Heng, chairman of the industrial park, the area of chili pepper plantations is planned to be expanded to 2,000 acres by 2026 to further increase exports to China.
On November 20, 2025, in Kamuli, Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni held a ceremony to mark the shipment of the country’s first batch of dried chili peppers to China. This marks the first time Uganda has exported dried chili peppers to China. A year earlier, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement allowing the supply of this agricultural product to the Chinese market. (Xinhua/Ronald Sekandi)
This photo taken on November 20, 2025, in Kamuli, Uganda, shows the ceremony for the export of Ugandan dried chili peppers. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attended the ceremony. A year earlier, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement allowing the export of these agricultural products to the Chinese market. (Xinhua/Ronald Sekandi)
On November 20, 2025, farmers harvested chili peppers at a cooperative cultivation and training facility in Kamuli, Uganda. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni attended the launch ceremony for the first batch of dried chili peppers shipped to China. A year earlier, the two countries signed a bilateral agreement allowing agricultural products to enter the Chinese market. (Xinhua/Ronald Sekandi)
Post time: Dec-17-2025