Vanilla

Did you know that Uganda exports vanilla, cocoa and cinchona bark (from which quinine is made)?

Vanilla grows on vines with orchid-like flowers that bloom for only a single day and have to be hand pollinated to ensure a crop of the precious pods, which take a month to fully ripen.  Ugandan vanilla has more vanillin weight for weight than Madagascar vanilla. 

Supply and demand for natural and synthetic vanilla fluctuate and this leads to nailbiting price swings for farmers as described in this article.

Agriculture is a major source of GDP and fair trade exporters are doing their part to bring income and stability to the country