Kabale farmers embrace tea
Jan 13, 2010
ALTHOUGH Kabale farmers are known for producing the best irish potatoes in the country, the district has over the years lacked a perennial crop which farmers can rely on as a long term enterprise.
By Ronald Kalyango
ALTHOUGH Kabale farmers are known for producing the best irish potatoes in the country, the district has over the years lacked a perennial crop which farmers can rely on as a long term enterprise.
Not anymore. The district has identified tea growing as a new enterprise for the farmers. This means there will be an improvement in the incomes of the local people as tea will assure them of a steady income throughout the year.
“We have cultivated irish potatoes for centuries, but this is just a food security crop, tea will enable the farmers to earn sh20m annually,†Hope Mwesigye, the agriculture minister said.
Before they zeroed in on tea, farmers had been encouraged to embrace pyrethrum and Artemisia crops. But the two crops collapsed because of the minimal extension services and the unwillingness by the farmers to embrace the crop’s cultivation.
According to the minister, farmers in the countryside are supposed to embrace enterprises which earn them daily, seasonal and annual incomes.
While briefing stakeholders who converged for a tea workshop in Kabale, Mwesigye said tea is the best crop that can be planted on hills. She added that when the project succeeds, it will lead to better land utilisation and good soil conservation.
The partnership for growing tea in Kabale was launched in April 2008, between Kabale district local government, Good African Tea (GAT) and the Government, through the National Agricultural Advisory Services - (NAADS), Mwesigye said.
Initially, the project targeted the planting of about 5,000 acres of tea in six sub-counties of Bubale, Butanda, Bufundi, Kitumba, Rubaya and Kamuganguzi. The project, launched by President Yoweri Museveni in 2008, has 5,000 farmers registered to grow the crop.
GAT was supposed to construct a tea factory in Rubona village in Bubale sub-county to process all the green leaf produced by the farmers. Andrew Rugasira, GAT’s chief executive officer, said GAT’s operations manager, Geoffrey Bazira, had been to India and made orders for the necessary machinery that will be used to construct the factory. Rugasira also informed the gathering that GAT was negotiating with African Development Bank for financial support to establish the factory.
He also said his organisation was still looking for five acres of land where the factory will be established.
“When we get the required land, we shall start on the civil works by June. We are optimistic that the factory will be commissioned in June next year,†Rugasira said.
The executive advised that before establishing the factory, farmers should first plant a total of 1,000 acres of tea seedlings. However, James Musinguzi Garuga, the proprietor of Kinkinzi Tea Development Company in Kanungu district, said even though 1,000 acres of planted tea is needed to sustain the factory, 1,400 acres would be ideal for a smooth operation.
Garuga also informed stakeholders that he had seen a truckful of tea seedlings which had dried up due to negligence by the district officials yet the district had invested huge amounts of money in the enterprise. According to district officials, sh430m had been invested in raising planting materials and in mobilising farmers.
Geoffrey Bazira of GAT said they had so far delivered a total of 52,000 tea plantlets to Bukinda, 180,000 to Bubale, 114,000 to Butanda, 189,000 to Bufundi, 347,000 to Kamuganguzi, 22,300 to Kitumba and 36,500 to Rubaya.
He said from one acre, a farmer can be able to harvest 2,500kg of tea per month and sell each kilo at the current market price of sh250 per kilo. This means one can earn sh600,000 per month.
In a year, a farmer is capable of producing 28,800kg thereby earning an annual income of sh7.2m. After deducting costs, a farmer can remain with sh5m as profit. Good maintainence and plucking gives a farmer 36 rounds of harvest in a year. The farmer is therefore assured of a stream of income throughout the year.
Bazira also said a nursery bed of up to two million plantlets had been established and would be ready to distribute to farmers in the March planting season. The project also received 542,000 cuttings which were to be transformed into seedlings in the nursery bed. Also, a total of 120,000 mature plantlets ready for planting were procured by NAADS secretariat and given out to farmers.
When production begins, quality black and green teas will be expported to markets in Europe, the US and Asia.
ALTHOUGH Kabale farmers are known for producing the best irish potatoes in the country, the district has over the years lacked a perennial crop which farmers can rely on as a long term enterprise.
Not anymore. The district has identified tea growing as a new enterprise for the farmers. This means there will be an improvement in the incomes of the local people as tea will assure them of a steady income throughout the year.
“We have cultivated irish potatoes for centuries, but this is just a food security crop, tea will enable the farmers to earn sh20m annually,†Hope Mwesigye, the agriculture minister said.
Before they zeroed in on tea, farmers had been encouraged to embrace pyrethrum and Artemisia crops. But the two crops collapsed because of the minimal extension services and the unwillingness by the farmers to embrace the crop’s cultivation.
According to the minister, farmers in the countryside are supposed to embrace enterprises which earn them daily, seasonal and annual incomes.
While briefing stakeholders who converged for a tea workshop in Kabale, Mwesigye said tea is the best crop that can be planted on hills. She added that when the project succeeds, it will lead to better land utilisation and good soil conservation.
The partnership for growing tea in Kabale was launched in April 2008, between Kabale district local government, Good African Tea (GAT) and the Government, through the National Agricultural Advisory Services - (NAADS), Mwesigye said.
Initially, the project targeted the planting of about 5,000 acres of tea in six sub-counties of Bubale, Butanda, Bufundi, Kitumba, Rubaya and Kamuganguzi. The project, launched by President Yoweri Museveni in 2008, has 5,000 farmers registered to grow the crop.
GAT was supposed to construct a tea factory in Rubona village in Bubale sub-county to process all the green leaf produced by the farmers. Andrew Rugasira, GAT’s chief executive officer, said GAT’s operations manager, Geoffrey Bazira, had been to India and made orders for the necessary machinery that will be used to construct the factory. Rugasira also informed the gathering that GAT was negotiating with African Development Bank for financial support to establish the factory.
He also said his organisation was still looking for five acres of land where the factory will be established.
“When we get the required land, we shall start on the civil works by June. We are optimistic that the factory will be commissioned in June next year,†Rugasira said.
The executive advised that before establishing the factory, farmers should first plant a total of 1,000 acres of tea seedlings. However, James Musinguzi Garuga, the proprietor of Kinkinzi Tea Development Company in Kanungu district, said even though 1,000 acres of planted tea is needed to sustain the factory, 1,400 acres would be ideal for a smooth operation.
Garuga also informed stakeholders that he had seen a truckful of tea seedlings which had dried up due to negligence by the district officials yet the district had invested huge amounts of money in the enterprise. According to district officials, sh430m had been invested in raising planting materials and in mobilising farmers.
Geoffrey Bazira of GAT said they had so far delivered a total of 52,000 tea plantlets to Bukinda, 180,000 to Bubale, 114,000 to Butanda, 189,000 to Bufundi, 347,000 to Kamuganguzi, 22,300 to Kitumba and 36,500 to Rubaya.
He said from one acre, a farmer can be able to harvest 2,500kg of tea per month and sell each kilo at the current market price of sh250 per kilo. This means one can earn sh600,000 per month.
In a year, a farmer is capable of producing 28,800kg thereby earning an annual income of sh7.2m. After deducting costs, a farmer can remain with sh5m as profit. Good maintainence and plucking gives a farmer 36 rounds of harvest in a year. The farmer is therefore assured of a stream of income throughout the year.
Bazira also said a nursery bed of up to two million plantlets had been established and would be ready to distribute to farmers in the March planting season. The project also received 542,000 cuttings which were to be transformed into seedlings in the nursery bed. Also, a total of 120,000 mature plantlets ready for planting were procured by NAADS secretariat and given out to farmers.
When production begins, quality black and green teas will be expported to markets in Europe, the US and Asia.