Uganda is a country with agriculture as its main focus, and it has unique natural conditions. With numerous rivers and extensive swamps, Uganda is known as a “highland water town”. The world’s second largest freshwater lake in Africa, Lake Victoria, is located in Uganda with 428% of its population. Uganda has two rainy seasons every year, with abundant water. Lakes and wetlands do not dry up throughout the year, ensuring sufficient irrigation water every year. Even in places far away from lakes, groundwater is still abundant, and water can generally be extracted just a few feet underground.
According to statistics, the average annual temperature in Uganda is around 22. Around Lake Victoria on the southern border of Uganda, the annual temperature remains between 18 and 19. This climate condition is very favorable for the production of Gerbera, Anthurium, hybrid tea scented roses, and other cut flower products. In the high-altitude areas of western Uganda, the nighttime temperature can drop to 12, which is exactly suitable for the growth needs of large flower roses and other cut flower products that require lower nighttime temperatures. Compared to European countries, producing floral products in Uganda can save a lot of expensive heating costs.
The soil in Uganda is very fertile, and the red soil in the southern Victoria Lake area is among the most fertile soils in the world.
Advantage conditions
Compared to the flower industry in neighboring Kenya, Uganda has a smaller flower planting area and a slower development speed. At present, flower cultivation in Uganda is mainly operated by more than 20 large companies, with a total production area of 180 hectares. Most flower companies choose their production bases near Lake Victoria in southern Uganda, mainly due to its abundant water resources and proximity to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The flower grower base is located near Lake Victoria, around Kampala (the capital of Uganda), and it only takes up to 2 hours by car to Entebbe Airport. Even in high-altitude mountainous areas in the west, due to the construction of asphalt roads, it only takes 5 hours by car to reach Entebbe Airport.
There is a dedicated infrastructure for the processing of fresh cut flower products, as well as a refrigeration warehouse and other refrigeration facilities, at Entebbe Airport, ensuring that the most suitable storage conditions for flowers can be provided over a longer product supply chain. Thanks to government encouragement, the air freight rate of flower products in Uganda has now caught up with Kenya.
The Ugandan government encourages exports, and almost all materials required for flower growers to produce are tax-free, resulting in a significant increase in export volume. In recent years, the situation in Uganda has been stable, especially in Kampala, Lake Victoria, and high-altitude areas in the west, which have attracted more and more investors.
Cultivation methods
Previously, Uganda mostly used soil cultivation to produce roses. Since 2002, soilless cultivation has been attempted and has developed rapidly. More and more companies have started using coconut bran as a cultivation substrate. In the first half of 2005, Uganda’s flower production base conducted a large-scale selective experiment on finding the best growth substrate, achieving good results. Compared with soil, switching to other cultivation substrates can reduce the use of chemical soil disinfectants (such as methane bromide) and allow for the recycling of nutrient solutions. These all reflect the current trend of emphasizing environmental protection. Some people predict that by the end of 2005, all flower growers will adopt soilless substrate cultivation.
Training work
One of the main reasons why Uganda’s flower production can maintain stable growth is the large number of skilled workers. This can be attributed to Uganda’s well-established training institutions. In Uganda, there are excellent flower production training institutions. At present, most of the leaders engaged in flower production have graduated from the Uganda Tropical Flower Horticulture (ATF) course, which is an applied training school that emphasizes the combination of practice and theory. In recent years, the school has also received funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Here, students can also choose to study at flower production bases, such as some courses offered in production bases around Lake Victoria, making it convenient for students to study nearby.
Ugandan growers are planning to establish their own flower training and development centers. In the future, training centers can provide training to employees at all levels, from supervisors to inspectors, sprinkler personnel, flower production technicians, harvesters, and personnel engaged in post harvest preservation and other related work. In addition, specialized departments should be established with dedicated personnel for applied research to solve special problems that may arise during the production process.
Flower Association
Currently, all flower growers in Uganda have joined the Uganda Flower Export Association (UFEA). In 2004, with the efforts of the Uganda Flower Export Association, the flower industry in Uganda made some adjustments. Under the organization of the association, growers adopt an industrialized operation model, collect information, share experiences, allow flower enterprises to visit each other, train employees together, and strive to obtain preferential policies from government departments. They also receive material subsidies and financial support from foreign donations for certain special projects, which has greatly improved the operating conditions of some struggling enterprises. Without the existence of the Uganda Flower Export Association, Uganda would not have achieved such great success in such a short period of time
The Uganda Flower Export Association is currently doing the following work: expanding the current scale of flower enterprises; Increase production and increase the variety of flowers for export; Reduce the proportion of shipping and try to use air freight as much as possible. And a strategic plan was initially formulated, which is to increase the production area from the current 180 hectares to 360 hectares, employment to 10000 people, and annual export value to over 50 million US dollars by 2007.
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