In Uganda’s Busoga sub-region, a crop long associated with household food security is being positioned at the centre of a much larger industrial ambition. A US$50 million investment in Kamuli seeks to turn a staple crop into pharmaceutical inputs and industrial products—but reliable power remains a critical test
At Namasagali in Kamuli District, Dei BioPharma’s cassava processing facility is designed to process up to 500 metric tonnes of cassava a day, producing pharmaceutical-grade starch, food-grade starch, glucose, maltose and fructose. The facility was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni on 20 November 2025 as part of Uganda’s broader push towards agro-processing and pharmaceutical self-reliance.
The investment has been reported at about US$50 million, while the wider development around the site is envisioned as a much larger agro-industrial and biotechnology ecosystem. The plant is intended to supply inputs to Dei’s pharmaceutical manufacturing activities in Matugga, linking agricultural production in eastern Uganda with pharmaceutical manufacturing near Kampala.
Across Africa, the challenge is increasingly not simply how to produce agricultural commodities, but how to capture more value from them before they leave the continent. Cassava illustrates the opportunity. Instead of being sold primarily as a food crop or processed into relatively low-value products, it can provide starches, sugars and other industrial inputs for food, beverages and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The Namasagali model therefore represents a potentially important shift: from agriculture as production to agriculture as an industrial input. But turning that vision into sustained production has exposed another reality facing African industrialisationmanufacturing requires infrastructure capable of supporting it.
Recent reporting indicates that the plant has struggled to operate at full capacity because of inadequate electricity supply. The facility requires more than 5 megawatts of power to operate at full capacity, according to Dei BioPharma founder Dr Matthias Magoola. The company has reportedly been forced to rely on diesel generators, with one generator costing about Sh15 million a day to operate a shift. Production has consequently been intermittent rather than running at the plant’s designed capacity.
The Energy Minister, Dr Monica Musenero, recently visited the facility and directed the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited to address the infrastructure constraints. UEDCL reportedly committed to upgrading the electricity infrastructure serving the plant.
For Uganda, this is more than a problem affecting one factory. It illustrates the infrastructure equation behind industrial policy. A country can have fertile land, farmers, investors, technology and markets. But if electricity cannot reliably reach an industrial facility, production costs rise and investment potential remains constrained.
The plant requires a large and consistent supply of cassava. Dei BioPharma says it is sourcing from farmers in several parts of Uganda, including Teso, Arua, Gulu, Lira and Bukedea. Full-scale operations are expected to create a significant additional market for cassava producers.
The company’s wider project has also involved registering farmers and providing improved planting materials, according to company information.
A factory alone does not transform an economy. The transformation occurs when farmers have a reliable market, processors have dependable raw materials, manufacturers have competitive inputs, workers gain employment, and consumers gain access to locally produced goods.
Africa’s industrial challenge is often described in terms of manufacturing capacity. But Namasagali suggests that the question is broader. Can African economies connect farmers, infrastructure, processing, science, finance, manufacturing and markets into a single productive ecosystem?
Uganda’s plant is attempting precisely that, Cassava grown by farmers can become pharmaceutical-grade starch and industrial sugars; those inputs can feed manufacturing; manufacturing can reduce dependence on imported materials and potentially create products for regional and global markets.
Uganda’s government has presented the investment as part of a wider effort to reduce dependence on imported pharmaceutical raw materials. The ambition therefore extends beyond cassava, It is about whether an African agricultural commodity can become part of an African industrial supply chain.
The Namasagali experience also carries a cautionary message, Africa does not lack agricultural resources or ambitious industrial projects. The harder task is building the systems that allow those investments to operate consistently and competitively.
Reliable electricity is one part. Others include farmer aggregation, roads, storage, finance, technology, quality standards, skills, research and access to markets. If those pieces come together, a crop such as cassava can become more than food security. It can become an industrial resource.
If they remain disconnected, even a modern factory can spend more time waiting for inputs or electricity than producing. That is why Namasagali matters beyond Kamuli, the plant is ultimately a test of whether Uganda and Africa more broadly can move from exporting potential to manufacturing value.
For Africa, the strategic prize is not simply producing more cassava. It is producing more starch, medicines, technologies, jobs, intellectual property and industrial value from African resources. That is the deeper promise of agro-industrialisation and in Namasagali, that promise is now being tested one tonne, one farmer and one megawatt at a time.
