Improving Uganda Vanilla Yields and Farmer Income
Photo by Jjumba Martin for CRS
Pingo Jolly plays two of the most important roles in a billion-dollar international market: farmer and teacher.
She’s a vanilla grower with an acre and a half of land in Uganda. The vanilla beans she produces must be of the highest possible quality. That requires an extraordinary amount of labor. Then, after doing everything right, she hopes for strong market prices.
Pingo Jolly, one of 40 farmer learning center hosts, tends her vanilla plants. The Vines Project, funded by the Department of Agriculture, uses designated farms, known as farmer learning centers, to promote the adoption of sustainable agronomic practices.
Photo by Maxine Kampire/CRS
Vanilla, the second most expensive spice in the world, is a high-value cash crop. But for its potential rewards, it demands a lot of the grower. Almost 300 years of failed attempts passed before anyone even knew how to pollinate the flower that puts forth the bean. Almost no beans grew outside vanilla’s native Mexico. Then in the 1840s, an enslaved 12-year-old boy revealed the secret to growing vanilla anywhere else on earth.
The secret was hand pollination. It requires vigilance and an expert touch. But that alone will not produce the quality of bean that Pingo and her fellow farmers seek.
Timing plays a critical role. The window of opportunity for pollinating a bloom is less than 12 hours. Then, the grower waits about 9 months for the beans to ripen. To assure the highest quality, the beans must be hand-picked, one at a time. If harvested too early or too late the result is low-quality or ruined beans. The grower must know exactly what to look for.
Prior to her training and selection at a host a farmer learning center, Pingo faced the same challenges as the farmers she now trains. She struggled to manage her vanilla garden, she saw flowers falling off before pollination, yellowing leaves due to poor soil and water management, and inadequate shade management, among others. Yields were low and discouraging.
"Since I began conducting practical lessons for farmers in my field, my garden has significantly improved, and for the farmers I train within my village."
One advantage that Pingo and her peers have is that they farm in Uganda, which happens to have a growing environment that vanilla loves. But that environment, too, requires knowledge and work. A successful vanilla farmer also needs to be something of an expert agronomist. The most stubborn barrier to success for many Ugandan vanilla farmers was knowledge. That’s where Vines learning centers come in.
The Vines Project uses designated farms, known as farmer learning centers, to promote the adoption of sustainable agronomic practices. These centers are equipped with trained farmers and serve as hubs for fostering agricultural innovation, providing education on vanilla agronomy and agroforestry practices. By showcasing these practices, the centers demonstrate their impact on yield to other farmers.
With the support of five private sector partners, the Vines Project has successfully established 40 farmer learning centers spanning nine districts. Through these centers, over 1,000 smallholder farmers have acquired skills and knowledge in proper management of their vanilla farms in the past year.
A worker sorts and packs vanilla for export. The CRS Vines project is a five-year project designed to make Uganda the world’s next leading supplier of high-quality vanilla.
Photo by Jjumba Martin for CRS
Pingo, a resident of Nyahungu Parish, Bundibugyo District, Western Uganda, is one of the farmer learning center hosts. Selected through Vines' private sector partner, Gourmet Gardens, Pingo works with 25 vanilla farmers in her community to adopt good agronomic practices. She knows the challenges they face.
"In 2002, I planted 100 vanilla plants on half an acre of land. I did not have anyone to guide me on how to look after my vanilla and do things like pollination," Pingo says. The poor results ultimately prompted her to abandon the vanilla garden.
Pingo ‘s interest in vanilla farming was reignited in 2015 when Gourmet Gardens visited her village to tell farmers about the potential market for the crop. However, she continued facing the same challenges she had encountered before.
Vanilla flowers are pollinated by hand using a pin or whittled stick to carefully separate the stigma and pollen-bearing anther. The farmer’s thumb and forefinger then gently squeeze the male and female parts together.
Photo by Jjumba Martin for CRS
In 2022, Catholic Relief Services partnered with canning company Gourmet Gardens to provide training to farmers on best practices for vanilla cultivation. Pingo was one of the trainees.
“CRS trains farmers on agronomy and helps them turn their farming enterprise into a profitable business. We educate farmers on market trends, enabling them to anticipate and adjust to fluctuations in the vanilla market,” says Jackline Biira, Vines senior project officer.
“I was trained in proper spacing, pollination, removal of wilt and deceased vanilla vines, minimum tillage during weeding, creating trenches to capture water, and other practices to promote healthy vanilla vines,” Pingo says.
With this training, she started fresh, planting 500 vanilla plants on an acre and a half. She was nominated by her fellow farmers to become the leader of the farmer learning center. Once a month, she guides farmers through vanilla agronomy and the agroforestry system, focusing on the prevalent vanilla-banana agroforestry system among her farmer learning members.
Pingo Jolly, left, demonstrates plant care techniques for healthier vanilla vines. By showcasing these practices, the centers demonstrate their impact on yield to other farmers.
Photo by Maxine Kampire/CRS
“I organize training sessions for 25 farmers in my garden and visit their farms to provide support and monitor their implementation of the techniques they've learned," Pingo says.
Pingo takes the farmers through crop management practices like soil and water conservation, pest and disease management, and best practices for flowering, pollination and pruning. The farmers participate in the training and later replicate the practices in their own fields.
Through their training,the growers have observed remarkable transformations in their gardens.
"Since I began conducting practical lessons for farmers in my field, my garden has significantly improved, and for the farmers I train within my village," Pingo says.
She has seen an increase in the yield of vanilla bean harvest with it growing from just under a pound per vanilla plant annually to more than a pound and a half per plant.
Laboratories carry out a variety of tests including moisture and vanillin content levels to ensure that exported vanilla meets demands of the international market.
Photo by Jjumba Martin for CRS
“During the last harvest and sales season, I delivered 269 pounds and didn’t get any vanilla bean rejects like I used to in the past,” Jolly says.
The adoption of these practices has had a ripple effect on the other crops that Jolly grows.
“I grow cocoa and bananas too, and I have seen an increase in my harvest, especially from the banana garden,” Pingo says. This has been crucial as the other crops supplement her income from vanilla.
With these improvements, Pingo eagerly anticipates continuing to implement these practices and benefiting from the vanilla harvest when prices improve.
"I hope for a rise in vanilla prices so that I can earn sufficient income from my vanilla sales to support my family," Pingo says. Currently, she relies on the income from both her vanilla and banana garden to meet her family's needs.
With funding from the Department of Agriculture, the Vines Project plans to establish more farmer learning centers with its 10 private sector partners, resulting expandedtraining and production of vanilla and other crops so that farmers can deepen their knowledge and diversify their incomes..
