Fruit market booms in Kampala

The fruits trade in Uganda's capital city Kampala is booming. Apples, pears, mangoes, bananas, passion fruits are in abundant supply. South African and Kenyan fruits dominate the market, but local farmers are watching with keen interest the growing market for tropical fruits like pineapples, mangoes, bananas and oranges; as well as temperate fruits like apples and pears.

Apples are doing well in the Kabale area, having been introduced in 1999 with seeds imported from Germany and South Africa. Some farmers have reported incomes of about Shs 260,000 ($155) from a single mature tree. In an area that suffers severe land shortage, this makes good business compared with crops such as bananas and sweet potatoes.

Growing apples, plums and pears is possible in Kabale because of the cool climate. The highlands of south-western Uganda, with an altitude of 2,100 metres above sea level, are much more temperate than the rest of the country. Kabale is usually shrouded in morning mist when lowland areas experience sunshine.

Local farmers may struggle to grow tropical fruits like pineapples and bananas, which are found in abundance elsewhere in Uganda, but they can turn Kabale's climate to their advantage, producing fruits that are usually imported from South Africa and command a much higher price than tropical ones.

NAADS, the country's agricultural advisory body, intends to support value chain for dried fruits for both local and export niche markets in the EU. According to the NAADS executive director, Silim Nahdy, the agricultural body is promoting value addition of perishable fruits like pineapples, apples, bananas and mangoes by introducing appropriate solar drying technologies through lead farmers. The farmers are taught about post-harvest handling facilities to dry and pack their fruits for sale to super markets.

Nahdy says that the major constraint to exporters of dried fruits to EU niche markets has been photosanitory and trace ability certification. "This calls for mobilizing farmer production groups to conform to EU product standards and production practices at farm level," he says.

Uganda Observer