Our foundation
140 member cooperatives
Our first and most important partners are the primary cooperatives and the 20,000+ farmers who own this union.
Meet the union
Partners & customers
Good work is rarely done alone.
UCCCU works with government, universities, development organisations and private companies to bring expertise, technology and markets closer to our members.
Featured partnership
Zoetis ALPHA and the diagnostic laboratory.
In March 2021, with the Zoetis ALPHA initiative, UCCCU established an animal diagnostic laboratory in Mbarara. What began as a partnership around testing has become a permanent piece of member infrastructure.
By October 2024, more than 7,000 samples had been tested. The laboratory now supports veterinarians and para-veterinarians across ten districts, and forms part of a nine-laboratory network monitoring tick and acaricide resistance with Makerere University CoVAB, GALVmed and MAAIF.
01 Our network
The institutions we build with.
From regulation and research to animal health and market development, each partnership adds a capability the union could not build alone.
Animal health
Zoetis
Through the Zoetis ALPHA initiative, we established the UCCCU animal diagnostic laboratory in March 2021.
Visit Zoetis
Livestock medicines
GALVmed
A partner in the national tick and acaricide resistance monitoring network, improving livestock health outcomes.
Visit GALVmed
Research & academia
Makerere University
Working with the College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Bio-security on acaricide resistance monitoring.
Visit Makerere
Government
MAAIF
The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries is a partner in the laboratory network and sector development.
Visit MAAIF
Dairy regulation
Dairy Development Authority
DDA works with UCCCU on cooperative capacity building, governance training and dairy sector standards.
Visit DDA
Government
MTIC
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives registered UCCCU under the 1991 Cooperative Union Act.
Visit MTIC
Work with us
Start a conversation
Bring expertise, technology or a market.
We are open to partnerships that strengthen member services, dairy quality and farmer income, from input supply to processing and export.
02 For customers & buyers
Source through the cooperative network.
For processors, exporters and institutional buyers, UCCCU offers a traceable, cooperative-based route into one of Uganda's most productive milk sheds. Milk is collected through member primary cooperatives and their collection centres, then cooled and moved through member-owned infrastructure.
Our laboratory, animal health services and farmer training also support the quality and consistency that buyers need, from the farm gate onward.
20,000+Farmer members
183Collection centres
714,000 LDaily cooling capacity
48.1%Regional MCC share
A member collection centre ยท Ankole milk shed
03 How we partner
What makes a partnership last.
We look for partners who are willing to build capability inside the cooperative, not just deliver a project around it.
Evidence
Testing, monitoring and data that help farmers make better decisions and help the sector see what is really happening.
Capability
Training that stays in the cooperative after the project ends: governance, animal health and commercial farm management.
Reach
A network of 140 cooperatives and 183 collection centres, a ready route to rural dairy households at scale.
Shared value
Commercial relationships that leave more value with the farmer, the cooperative and the local dairy economy.
Work with us
The next chapter is farmer-owned.
We are building a processing plant owned by the farmers who supply it, capturing more value, creating more opportunity and keeping dairy local.