How On Earth Did Uganda Grow Cocoa Before Us?

[Omollo]

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I just stumbled on this. It is very annoying. How come somebody in Uganda discovered that the colonial powers were lying that cocoa could not grow in East Africa before we did?

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Uganda+cocoa+exports+look+up+as+Ivory+Coast+falters/-/2560/1197912/-/q79dhj/-/index.html

[RV Pundit]

Omollo,
This is very interesting. I wonder if we can replicate it in kenya. There is definitely a big market as more countries become prosperous.

[anarchista]

Unfortunately Kenya policy drivers became more interested in selling/buying 'idle' ADC land than in research and piloting new products.

Hopefully Counties will at some point begin to think outside the box for solutions. I noticed the other day some CDF somewhere put up a tender for staff housing specifically made from expandable polysterene: http://wiredkenya.com/tenders

But I digress. The real deal is Vanilla production, which Uganda has been producing for about ten years now and of very high quality in the last five or so years.

http://www.lightyearsip.net/scopingstudy/ugandan_vanilla.aspx

 

[Omollo]

Anarchista

Thanks for the tip. I think Uganda has scored a first on everyone. I notice they are deep in Vanilla cultivation and are in fact listed 8th among the top World Producers. Both Cocoa and Vanilla are expected to command increasingly high prices. I think places like Mumias, Webuye and Much of South Nyanza should explore such alternatives.

I am glad that tropical sugar beet is being experimented on. We could begin seeing a replacement for sugarcane.

http://www.africanreview.com/energy-a-power/renewables/kenyan-biofuel-production-project-receives-international-funding

[Olekoima]

Thanks for the info Omollo. This is where we need the countty governments to take the lead. I hope they are reading this.