Overview
The dairy industry is the most important livestock sector in Uganda, contributing about half of the total livestock GDP and supporting the livelihoods of 1.2 million households. Average milk yields range from one litre per cow per day in pastoralist systems to 25 litres per cow per day in large-scale commercial systems. Limited feed resources, diseases, poor management and low genetic potential make Uganda’s milk yields low and largely variable. Seasonality greatly impacts milk production during the year.

Baseline greenhouse gas emissions
The dairy cattle sector in Uganda was responsible for about 19.1 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-eq.) of greenhouse gas emissions in 2009. Methane generated almost 99 percent of these emissions.  At the national level, the emission intensity of milk produced in Uganda was on average 10 kg CO₂-eq. per kilograms of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM). Average emissions ranged from:

6 to 21 kg CO₂-eq/kg FPCM in the traditional system

2 to 5 kg CO₂-eq/kg FPCM in the commercial system

Mitigation interventions
Combining technical interventions such as legume-grass intercropping, water harvesting, East Coast Fever control and improving dairy breeding would increase Uganda’s milk production by between 8 and 120 percent, and decrease emission intensity from 5 to 52 percent. The study reveals that taken individually these interventions can increase Uganda’s milk production from 2 to 16 percent in commercial systems, and from 4 to 40 percent in traditional systems. In terms of emissions reduction, these interventions would help the country reduce enteric methane emission intensity by up to 11 percent in commercial systems and up to 27 percent in traditional systems. Investing in livestock productivity improvements can be a key strategy to fulfilling the growing domestic demand for dairy products, meeting food and nutrition security needs, supporting livelihoods, and reducing methane emissions.