Vegetable farming is one of the many ways in which farmers in Uganda are earning money silently even those that just have a backyard. Many homes in Uganda currently consume vegetables on a daily basis creating a ready market for the various types of vegetables grown in the country.
There are more than 30 vegetable types that are grown both on a large and small scale and since most of them can be grown in the same place, it makes it easier to have different varieties of vegetables in one garden.
Vegetables Grown In Uganda
- cucumbers
- Carrots
- Nakati (salanum aethiopicum)
- tomatoes
- okra (Hibiscus esculentus)
- lettuce,
- Malakwang (Hibiscus sabdariffa),
- pepper
- Doodo (amaranthus gynandra),
- Sukumawiki (kale)
African spiderflower - Buga
- onions and many more others.
The types of vegetation you can grow in Uganda
Kale (Sukumawiki)
this is one of the most profitable businesses in the country with many of the locals consuming it on a daily basis. Kale needs to be well taken care of as it can be harvested five weeks in a row and it is easy to grow. It is extremely profitable and you can earn about shs40, 000 or more depending on the market price.
Spinach
spinach was not consumed as much as the local vegetables like Nakati but at the moment there is a growing market for the vegetable. It is highly rich in iron and minerals and takes about 6 to 12 months before it is harvested.
Nakati
this has been grown previously on a small scale and sometimes it also grows on its own. One of the most highly consumed vegetables in the country, it can be prepared either by boiling it or frying depending on your choice. They are best eaten when they are still young because the older ones become bitter and hard, making it hard to be eaten.
Lettuce
this is one of the most popular vegetables in the country and is widely consumed especially in restaurants and hotels. It is rich in fibre and vitamin c and can be consumed when raw.
Vegetable farming can be done by anyone for as long as you have the zeal and it does not matter whether you went to school or not. You can either purchase land or do it in your backyard and start small before expanding into a full blown vegetable farm. Some of the things that you need to put into consideration when it comes to vegetable growing include the following.
Vegetable type: you need to decide on the type of vegetation that you want to grow. Carefully look at the different types of vegetation and find out which one can grow best in your land, the one you can easily maintain and the market demand of the vegetable chosen. Consider the gestation period of the vegetable, the initial capital needed for investment and the care needed for the crop to grow.
Initial capital needed
after getting to know the type of vegetables you want to grow, the next step is to look for capital to start your farm. Many seeds for many of the vegetables are sold in farm shops across the country and one of them is the container village located within the city centre of Kampala. Get a reliable supplier who has seeds which are treated and will not easily be attacked by pests and diseases upon planting. If you do not have a piece of land already, you can first plant your vegetables in containers or polythene bags with mixed loamy soil. The amount of capital needed should at least cover seed buying, planting, spraying of fungicide and harvesting.
Prepare the site for planting
different vegetables have different plant rules and therefore you should first carry out research to find out what the vegetable needs in order for them to grow well. Find out the right time for planting the chosen vegetable, the duration it takes before harvesting and how to control the pests and diseases that might attack the crops.
Vegetable Harvesting In Uganda
most of the vegetables can be harvested as early as thirty days while others take more than three months before they are ready for harvest. The best time to harvest vegetables is either in the morning or evening when the heat is not so much. Research more about when to harvest the vegetables and how to transport them to the market without causing more damage.
The one challenge that we still have in Uganda about vegetable farming is that many of the farmers in the country do not have knowledge about the various vegetables and how they are grown and others do not have the capacity of keeping the perishable vegetables from getting spoilt after harvesting which discourages most of them from joining commercial vegetable growing. This is why it is advisable that you get a bigger ready market for the vegetables so that they do not go to waste.