UGANDA Vanilla Project

The project

At the heart of the project are 430 smallholder farmers. They form a large cooperative in western Uganda. The cooperative is divided into four projects, each of which grows different products, forms a spatial unit and is under the management of the cooperative.

The product

Ugandan vanilla beans, often referred to as the green gold from the Pearl of Africa, are a wonderful addition to the world’s most popular flavor. Uganda is not currently a major vanilla producer, but it is known for producing high quality vanilla beans, which usually have a high vanillin content. However, most consumers are only familiar with vanilla beans from Madagascar, purely a matter of marketing.

Unlike most other vanilla growing regions in the world, Uganda has two growing seasons for vanilla beans. Uganda is the only country in the world that can currently harvest vanilla twice a year. As a result, communities in Uganda are busy growing, harvesting, ripening, and preparing vanilla for export for most of the year.

The goal

The goal is to significantly improve harvesting and processing hygiene through training and to develop alternative markets for more income by switching to organic products.

The acquisition of new machinery will enable the vanilla to be processed not only more quickly, but also to a higher quality. With the help of these measures, and especially with the help of advice on the conversion to organic cultivation, a large part of the vanilla can be exported to Europe at better prices, so that the income can be used to create new investments and thus new jobs. This creates a real perspective for the villages of the cooperative and thus an approach to curb the causes of flight of the youth.

Your support

The betterECO foundation will make the following investments with the help of your donations:
– Acquisition of inputs (seeds, seedlings).
– Purchase of mechanization equipment
– Improvement of agricultural production technology
– Harvest and post-harvest management