(3 minutes read)
Vanilla farmers of Tanzania’s Kagera Region are looking for reliable markets to sell the crop which is piled up in their godowns, due to a lack of reliable markets, some of the private buyers were even offering just 3,000/- shillings per kilogramme of dried vanilla. At some international markets, Zanzibar fresh vanilla is sold at an average of between 100,000/- and 150,000/- per kilogramme, while the dried one is sold between 800,000/- shillings and 1m/- shillings per kilo.
Vanilla farmers of Tanzania’s Kagera Region are looking for reliable markets to sell the crop which is piled up in their godowns, due to a lack of reliable markets, some of the private buyers were even offering just 3,000/- shillings per kilogramme of dried vanilla. At some international markets, Zanzibar fresh vanilla is sold at an average of between 100,000/- and 150,000/- per kilogramme, while the dried one is sold between 800,000/- shillings and 1m/- shillings per kilo.
For a long time, farmers in the Kagera Region depended on coffee as their main cash crop. Thus, diversifying to vanilla will greatly improve the farmers’ economy and livelihoods. Acting Kagera Regional Administrative Secretary (RAS), Isaya Tendega was recently quoted saying that over 300 tonnes of the vanilla crop are ready for selling while purchasers should buy a kilogramme of vanilla at 15,000/-. Farmers appeal for governmental intervention to enable them to get competitive prices. The government is inviting private companies to buy the crop by offering competitive prices to the farmers
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/tanzania-resilient-natural-resource-management-for-tourism-and-growth/
https://trendsnafrica.com/tanzania-mainstreams-agriculture/
https://trendsnafrica.com/netherlands-to-support-tanzania-to-boost-potato-output/
Cultivation of this crop is environmentally friendly as it can change part of the land that was not friendly to agriculture into a highly fertile area due to the way the crop is taken care of during its cultivation. Vanilla is a very profitable commercial plant with reports indicating that a kilogramme of dried vanilla can be sold at 1m/- at the export market.
Vanilla is suitable for agroforestry. It is cultivated in tropical areas where there are many varieties of crops. The use of vanilla includes making medicines, and cosmetics and is used to add flavour to foods like ice cream.
