Driven by increased demand from both local and export markets and facilitated by far-reaching liberalization and privatization policies, the dairy sub-sector in Uganda has undergone significant changes in the last decade. With a comparative advantage in milk production, the southwest of Uganda has started to attract considerable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in processing capacity, mainly targeting the export market. As a result, processing capacity increased five-fold and dairy became Uganda's third most important export product, coming from negligible amounts a decade earlier. In this study, we use data collected at different nodes within the value chain to identify some of the key innovations in these value chains. This is done by comparing the area that received the bulk of FDI to a similar area that did not. Furthermore, we also provide an econometric analysis that focuses on the integration of value chain actors into modern value chains more broadly defined. We find that dairy value chains are transforming rapidly, but innovations are more pronounced in areas that received the bulk of FDI. Our analysis further underscores the importance of milk collection centers, which often take the form of farmer cooperatives, in providing many of the support services that enable other actors in the value chain to produce sufficient milk, and maintain milk sanitation levels necessary for a modern export sector to emerge.

中文翻译：

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引领潮流——乌干达的外国直接投资和乳制品价值链升级

在本地和出口市场需求增加的推动下，以及影响深远的自由化和私有化政策的推动下，乌干达的乳制品子行业在过去十年中发生了重大变化。凭借牛奶生产的比较优势，乌干达西南部的加工能力开始吸引大量外国直接投资（FDI），主要针对出口市场。结果，加工能力增加了五倍，乳制品成为乌干达第三大出口产品，而十年前的数量微不足道。在本研究中，我们使用在价值链内不同节点收集的数据来确定这些价值链中的一些关键创新。这是通过将获得大量 FDI 的地区与没有获得大量外国直接投资的类似地区进行比较来完成的。此外，我们还提供计量经济学分析，重点关注价值链参与者与更广泛定义的现代价值链的整合。我们发现乳制品价值链正在迅速转变，但在获得大量 FDI 的领域创新更为明显。我们的分析进一步强调了牛奶收集中心的重要性，这些中心通常采用农民合作社的形式，提供许多支持服务，使价值链中的其他参与者能够生产足够的牛奶，并保持现代出口所需的牛奶卫生水平部门出现。