Farmers minting money from chilli
Sep 14, 2010
FOR three consecutive seasons, Alex Ayoma made losses from growing tobacco. He was so broke that he could not pay school fees for his two sons who were both in P.7. Frustrated, the 42 year old farmer decided to try his luck with African Birds Eye Red chilli. It is a decision that is about to pay him
By Richard Drasimaku
FOR three consecutive seasons, Alex Ayoma made losses from growing tobacco. He was so broke that he could not pay school fees for his two sons who were both in P.7.
Frustrated, the 42 year old farmer decided to try his luck with African Birds Eye Red chilli. It is a decision that is about to pay him returns.
Ayoma spent the whole of last month harvesting his chilli and cannot wait to sell his maiden yields.
“I wanted to grow something that would generate money. I used to grow tobacco but got disappointed. Then friends encouraged me to try chilli,†Ayoma recalls.
Using family labour, he started with two acres of chilli at his home in Alivu village, Ndapi parish in Omugo, Terego County.
Ayoma is one of about 2000 farmers in West Nile, traditionally a tobacco growing region, who have taken up chilli growing.
The new crop is being promoted by Arua Rural Community Development (ARCOD), a local community-based organisation.
To ensure quality, the organisation gives out free seedlings to the farmers, teaches them how to grow and process the spice and also provides them with materials to make solar driers.
Besides providing an alternative source of income for the farmers, the organisation hopes the crop will help restore vegetation cover that was cleared while planting and curing tobacco.
When ready, Ayoma will sell his chilli to the organisation which pays sh3,000 for a kilo of dried spice. Ayoma hopes to earn sh2m from his two acres.
With several farmers taking up chilli growing in the region, traders are rushing in to buy freshly picked chili before it is dried.
They export it to Juba in Southern Sudan where there is a big market for the crop.
Although it fetches less money, some farmers prefer to sell their chilli straight from the garden to avoid the laborious drying process.
Hand picking and drying chilli is a tedious process, which causes eye and nose irritation. Only a few farmers can afford the protective gear that is supposed to be worn during the harvesting and drying process.
Dry chilli must have moisture content of not more than 13% to avoid growth of aflatoxins, (cancer causing substances that develop on crops that are stored before they have dried properly).
To save time, grading is carried out during the drying process. Ayoma does not throw away the chilli that fails to make the grade.
Instead, he uses it as a natural pesticide. “I grind it and then sprinkle it around the poles of my granary, solar drier and other wooden structures to deter termites,†he explains.
Swale Adomati, another chilli farmer near Agurua Market in Ayivu, laments that his plans to grow chilli on a large scale have been frustrated by land shortage.
Due to land shortage, and the amount of labour required to harvest the spice, chilli is mainly grown on small fragmented plots or in farmers’ backyards where it is intercropped with maize and cassava.
“I want to plant on more plots but I cannot do much alone. I have to work on the chilli field, cook for the family and do field work of food crops. If you employ other people, they insist on being paid first,†says Aseru, who has been growing chilli for the last three years.
Harvesting begins three months after transplanting and it can go on for over three months.
Chilli is used in the manufacture of curry ingredients, chilli source and various medicinal products.
The crop’s local market is mainly made up of chilli sauce and curry powder makers.
Internationally the European Union, the US and Japan are the main markets for Ugandan chilli.
Arua district production officer Jimmy Ayoma Bamuru has advised chilli farmers in the region to form cooperatives in order to access agricultural loans from banks and technical assistance from government programmes like NAADS.
Through their cooperatives, the farmers can also invest in a processing plant that makes chilli sauce and other products that fetch a better price on the market.
FOR three consecutive seasons, Alex Ayoma made losses from growing tobacco. He was so broke that he could not pay school fees for his two sons who were both in P.7.
Frustrated, the 42 year old farmer decided to try his luck with African Birds Eye Red chilli. It is a decision that is about to pay him returns.
Ayoma spent the whole of last month harvesting his chilli and cannot wait to sell his maiden yields.
“I wanted to grow something that would generate money. I used to grow tobacco but got disappointed. Then friends encouraged me to try chilli,†Ayoma recalls.
Using family labour, he started with two acres of chilli at his home in Alivu village, Ndapi parish in Omugo, Terego County.
Ayoma is one of about 2000 farmers in West Nile, traditionally a tobacco growing region, who have taken up chilli growing.
The new crop is being promoted by Arua Rural Community Development (ARCOD), a local community-based organisation.
To ensure quality, the organisation gives out free seedlings to the farmers, teaches them how to grow and process the spice and also provides them with materials to make solar driers.
Besides providing an alternative source of income for the farmers, the organisation hopes the crop will help restore vegetation cover that was cleared while planting and curing tobacco.
When ready, Ayoma will sell his chilli to the organisation which pays sh3,000 for a kilo of dried spice. Ayoma hopes to earn sh2m from his two acres.
With several farmers taking up chilli growing in the region, traders are rushing in to buy freshly picked chili before it is dried.
They export it to Juba in Southern Sudan where there is a big market for the crop.
Although it fetches less money, some farmers prefer to sell their chilli straight from the garden to avoid the laborious drying process.
Hand picking and drying chilli is a tedious process, which causes eye and nose irritation. Only a few farmers can afford the protective gear that is supposed to be worn during the harvesting and drying process.
Dry chilli must have moisture content of not more than 13% to avoid growth of aflatoxins, (cancer causing substances that develop on crops that are stored before they have dried properly).
To save time, grading is carried out during the drying process. Ayoma does not throw away the chilli that fails to make the grade.
Instead, he uses it as a natural pesticide. “I grind it and then sprinkle it around the poles of my granary, solar drier and other wooden structures to deter termites,†he explains.
Swale Adomati, another chilli farmer near Agurua Market in Ayivu, laments that his plans to grow chilli on a large scale have been frustrated by land shortage.
Due to land shortage, and the amount of labour required to harvest the spice, chilli is mainly grown on small fragmented plots or in farmers’ backyards where it is intercropped with maize and cassava.
“I want to plant on more plots but I cannot do much alone. I have to work on the chilli field, cook for the family and do field work of food crops. If you employ other people, they insist on being paid first,†says Aseru, who has been growing chilli for the last three years.
Harvesting begins three months after transplanting and it can go on for over three months.
Chilli is used in the manufacture of curry ingredients, chilli source and various medicinal products.
The crop’s local market is mainly made up of chilli sauce and curry powder makers.
Internationally the European Union, the US and Japan are the main markets for Ugandan chilli.
Arua district production officer Jimmy Ayoma Bamuru has advised chilli farmers in the region to form cooperatives in order to access agricultural loans from banks and technical assistance from government programmes like NAADS.
Through their cooperatives, the farmers can also invest in a processing plant that makes chilli sauce and other products that fetch a better price on the market.