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Kalangala farmers earn Shs18b from oil palm
Demonstration. Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust general manager Nelson Basaalidde (centre) demonstrates how oil palm is cultivated at the BIDCO factories in Kalangala recently. Government has earmarked Shs720b for the expansion of oil palm project in the country. FILE PHOTO
Since 2010, more than 700 oil palm farmers in Kalangala District have earned a total of Shs18b in revenue from oil palm yields.
According to Nelson Basaalidde, the general manager, Kalangala Oil Palm Growers Trust (KOPGT), there are 1,770 outgrowers; and among these 700 are already yielding fruits from their oil palm plantations.
They earn an average of Shs500m every month from the ready fruits. “For instance, last month, we disbursed Shs483m to the accounts of different outgrowers, who are already producing for sale to Oil Palm Uganda. The farmers have so far received Shs18b since their plantations started yielding fruits in 2010,” Basaalidde explained.
From 2006, oil palm has been grown on a large scale on Bugala, Bubembe and Bunyama Islands. However, there have been some advocating for the extension of the enterprise to Bukasa and Bufumira Islands as well as Buvuma Islands in Buvuma District.
Against this backdrop, there is a plan to carry out Environment Impact Assessment on the different islands in a bid to expand the area under oil palm .
Loan
According to Basaalidde, the project also obtained a loan of Shs35.6b from the government through International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
This will support farmers whose oil palm plantations have not yet started yielding fruits. It will help them in the care and management of their farms.
About Shs6b has been repaid by outgrowing farmers through the Trust to the government, revealed Nelson Guwatudde, finance manager, KOPGT in a receent interview with journalists.
“A farmer whose plantation starts yielding fruit is no longer given a loan for maintenance. Rather, a given amount of money is deducted from his or her earnings. This is to repay the loan he or she undertook for the establishment and management of the plantation.”
The largest oil palm grower in Kalangala earns up to Shs45m a month from a 180-acre plantation. From each acre, it is estimated at Shs250,000 a month.
Price
The price of oil palm varies according to the world market price as determined by the Malaysian currency.
“We buy a kilogram of oil palm according to the price of oil palm in Malaysia, since it is the largest oil palm grower. We move with the international oil palm prices so that farmers can benefit from to the set international standards,” said Basaalidde.
Besides the average price of oil palm in Malaysia, the determinant for the price includes the transport costs and the percentage of palm oil extraction in Uganda.
However, many oil palm farmers in Kalangala District have argued that the price is low since the extraction rate of oil palm in Kalangala has not gone beyond 21 per cent.
“Our fruits are better than those in Ghana. How come the price of oil palm in Ghana is far higher than that in Uganda,” wondered Richard Kato, a palm oil farmer in Beta East, Mugoye Sub-county.
While each of the two oil palm factories in Kalangala District generate $40m every year, the other area of concern is the environmental issues.
Environmentalists such as National Association of Professional Environmentalists and the Friends of the Earth have pointed out that the oil palm projects encroached on the buffer zones in Kalangala District.
“Buffer zones act as the home of the ecosystem in the lake. If it is encroached; even ecology would be destroyed in Lake Victoria,” said David Kureeba.
“We either need to consider securing the buffer zones. If not, we shall only have oil palm without better water sources.”
