For a number of years, Ugandans especially in the early 2000s eased their livelihoods of the growth of vanilla until the prices sharply fell making the crop unpopular among farmers. However, since 2015, prices of vanilla rebounded as farmers in districts of Kayunga, Mukono, Mpigi, Jinja, Kamuli, Buikwe, Bundibugyo, Luwero, Kasese, and Kagadi tried to reap the windfall. Vanilla is a tropical plant that produces flowers and seed pods from which the vanilla extract is got. It’s the only type of orchard that grows in form of vine. To understand how much it took to grow the plant, we visited Maurice Mabareba of Bulola village in Kagadi district whose fortunes had changed because of vanilla. According to Mabareba, vanilla was a crop that could grow in any climate. It all starts with identifying or acquiring vanilla cuttings that were taken from a mature crop which was yet to flower. “As you plant you need to remove the leaves first.” Two cuttings on either side were planted with the support trees with the bottom of two nodes under the mush not in the soil otherwise, they would rot. “Then surround the vanilla vines around the planted tree.” For better growth especially with areas with low soil fertility, fertilizers will be needed for a crop to grow healthy.

“You can use dry grass or cow dung by surrounding it on the tree.” Vanilla plants required water twice or thrice a week as over watering would damage roots of the vanilla plant. The shed had to be provided initially to the vines by planting bananas or other suitable plants for better growth. “Normally it is advisable to first plant bananas before the vanilla for the shed.” The vanilla plant should be allowed to trail horizontally on poles tied to trees and the farmer warned that flowering would not occur as long as the vine climbed upwards. “Spacing is crucial I measure 4 – 5ft.” From planting to flowering, it took 2 – 2.5 years to the critical pollination stage. At the flowering stage, the crop needs extra care. Pollination is done by use of hands within 12 hours of their opening and it’s done by the help of a thin needle. All you need to do is to lift the leap of the flower then place the needle against another. “As you use the needle, one needs to be careful to avoid damaging the flowering plant.” This stage in vanilla growing took between 9 – 10 months for a farmer to harvest. Between 2003 and 2004, the price of vanilla spiked to 100,000 shillings for every kilo. Yet the price continued to hike standing at 250,000