Vanilla

Farmers under their umbrella body, Vanilla Exporter`s Association demand for a policy that will help to guide vanilla dealers in the country. While meeting with the Minister of Agriculture Animal industry and Fisheries, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja they requested Government to consider reviving vanilla crop in Uganda, because the prices have skyrocketed in the recent past. They said a kilo of vanilla is now 130,000 shillings, hence a need for government to mobilize farmers to grow vanilla again.

However, minister Ssempijja promised to mobilize farmers to grow vanilla in large quantity as  part of the strategy to drive the economy to middle income status as it’s the case in Madagascar.

In 2003, Uganda experienced a vanilla price boom, when farmers earned up to Shs150, 000 for a kilogram of fresh green beans. However, during the bust, the prices plunged to as low as 5,000 shillings forcing many farmers to abandon growing of the spice crop.