Parliament has granted Igara County West MP Cohen Amanya leave to introduce the National Tea Bill, 2026, which seeks to make value addition compulsory for tea exports and establish a domestic auction system to strengthen Uganda’s tea industry.
The proposed legislation is intended to address longstanding challenges in the sector, including low returns to farmers, poor-quality tea, limited value addition and dependence on external markets.
Moving the motion during a plenary sitting on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, chaired by Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, Amanya said the absence of a dedicated legal framework had undermined the competitiveness of Uganda’s tea industry and left farmers vulnerable to unstable market prices.
“The object of the Bill is to transition the tea industry in Uganda into a structured and regulated sub-sector that protects tea farmers and other tea value chain actors,” Amanya said.
According to the MP, approximately 90 per cent of Uganda’s tea is currently marketed through the Mombasa Tea Auction in Kenya, exposing the country’s industry to overdependence on a single external market.
He also cited poor and medium-quality tea fetching less than US$1 per kilogramme, high fertiliser costs, pests and diseases, as well as tea factories operating below their production capacity.
Under the proposed law, tea buyers and exporters would be required to undertake value addition before exporting Ugandan tea. The process would include packaging, blending, grading, flavouring, branding, labelling and processing tea into specialty products.
“A tea buyer or tea exporter shall add value to tea produced, purchased or intended for export from Uganda prior to sale or export,” Amanya said.
The Bill further proposes that exporters obtain a certificate from the ministry responsible for agriculture confirming compliance with the value-addition requirements before their consignments are cleared for export.
Companies that violate the proposed provisions could face suspension or cancellation of their operating licences, seizure of consignments and fines equivalent to the value of tea exported without value addition.
In a move aimed at strengthening Uganda’s position in the international tea market, the legislation also proposes the establishment of a domestic tea auction system through which tea processed and manufactured in the country for export would be traded.
The proposed framework assigns the ministry responsible for agriculture responsibility for regulating, promoting and overseeing the sector, while district authorities would supervise activities such as green leaf handling, pest management and post-harvest practices.
The Bill also introduces registration and licensing requirements for businesses and individuals operating across the tea value chain.
Tea importers would be required to obtain licences, demonstrate that the intended tea variety or grade is unavailable locally or through the domestic auction system, and secure a pre-import verification certificate from the country of origin.
Importers would also pay a tea levy to be prescribed by the minister responsible for agriculture in consultation with the minister responsible for finance.
To address quality concerns, the proposed legislation provides for continuous inspection of tea farms, processing factories, warehouses and storage facilities to ensure compliance with hygiene, quality and safety standards.
Seconding the motion, Mwenge Central MP Methuselah Kasukaali said the absence of a comprehensive legal framework had contributed to poor farming and manufacturing practices, consequently affecting the quality and competitiveness of Ugandan tea.
He cited the practice of admitting poor-quality tea leaves into factories and inadequate farm management as some of the factors responsible for the sector’s low earnings.
“The tea sector has faced poor on-farm practices, unregulated manufacturing, including admitting poor-quality tea leaves into the factories. As a result, the sector has been fetching low prices such that in 2024 we earned US$54 million, yet with improved quality it can be increased to US$120 million,” Kasukaali said.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Desire Muhooza, said the ministry was consulting stakeholders in the tea industry on the proposed regulatory framework.
Muhooza explained that the consultation process had experienced delays following the rationalisation of the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS).
The proposed National Tea Bill is expected to provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for Uganda’s tea industry, with its emphasis on quality improvement, domestic marketing, value addition and better returns to farmers.
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