From: wsargeant@IGC.ORG (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Uganda, alternative cash crop for c'
Date: 7 Apr 92 16:52:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: cdp.9204071652.AA12096

/* Written  9:04 am  Apr  7, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "UGANDA: ALTERNATIVE CASH CROP FOR C" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: UGANDA: ALTERNATIVE CASH CROP FOR COFFEE GROWERS


an inter press service feature

by richard tebere

ntenjeru, uganda, apr 4 (ips) -- ''vanilla, vanilla'', shouted
the children as a small truck sped past leaving a trail of dust
behind.

to the people of ntenjeru country in mukono district, 42 kms
southeast of kampala, the white pick-up driven by the chair of
mukono vanilla, spices and horticultural growers cooperative
society, has come to symbolise their hope for the future.

only four years ago vanilla was a crop grown by a few
individuals to flavour local gin and tea. now, according to
bisaaso, a farm-hand in nsanja village, ''it is the most
profitable crop i have seen in my life''.

his assessment echoes the general feeling in these villages.
the current farm-gate price is six dollars per kilogramme of wet
vanilla beans.

''this may go up to 10 dollars by the end of the year as the
current world market price is 60 dollars per kilo of processed
vanilla'', said tamale musoke, chair of the cooperative society.

coffee, uganda's main export crop now selling at 40 u.s.
cents per kilogramme, compares dismally with vanilla.

in response to the falling price of coffee on world market,
more and more farmers in mukono, mpigi and luwero districts are
taking to growing the climbing orchid.

in the 1960s vanilla was raised on a few estates of settler
european farmers and its husbandry was a closely guarded secret.
however, a few farmers who acquired its farming techniques are
applying them now to revamp the country's economy and boost
their own purchasing power.

when old george semivule of mukono district picked a bunch of
vanilla vines from an estate of his departing white employer in
1972 to grow in his backyard, nobody then realised that he
heralded an alternative cash crop for ugandan farmers.

semivule, now popularly known as ''father of vanilla'' in the
district, says he planted the vines at his home ''for flavouring
my morning tea and sundowner gin''. it was from his plants that
the crop has been multiplied to the whole district. (more/ips)


uganda: alternative (2)

mukono vanilla, spices and horticultural growers cooperative
society was formed in august 1991 by its 3,000 founder members
to curb their exploitation by individual exporters of vanilla
from uganda.

''one of the biggest problems we had was convincing the
farmers that there would be a market for their vanilla'', said
fred munyagwa, secretary-cum-manager of the cooperative.

in addition to providing small loans of between 50 and 500
dollars, the cooperative society offers technical advice to its
members and pays cash for their produce.

''now the money finds me at home'', peter matumbwe, a
prominent vanilla farmer told ips, recalling the days when
state-owned boards had the monopoly over major export crops but
failed to penetrate the rural areas to pay farmers for their
produce.

uganda's agriculture is characterized by the predominance of
the smallholder mode of production. smallholders produce 95
percent of the coffee, 100 percent of cotton, 40 percent of tea
and 100 percent of tobacco.

vanilla is interplanted with coffee shrubs, and according to
mukono cooperative officials, average net profit for each farmer
of the crop was 200 dollars per year.

mukono cooperative society last year realised 40,000 dollars
after exporting 800 kgs of dry processed vanilla. uganda's total
vanilla exports of vanilla were two metric tonnes.

as the industry picks up and more farmers shift to this crop
because of its relative profitability and it is not subject to
statutory price controls, observers here say vanilla could soon
become a leading export commodity in uganda.
(end/ips/rt/ar/apc/92)