Following the nose-dive in global coffee prices, the Uganda Investment in Developing Export Agriculture (IDEA) was launching a massive campaign programme to encourage farmers to grow vanilla as a major crop.

Steve New, the IDEA's Horticultural Advisor, recently said their aim is to see the number of small holder vanilla growers rise from the current 7,000 to about 50,000 in the coming years.

"Currently the world consumes 2000 tones of processed vanilla and Uganda only supplies 60 tones of this figure. We want to see this number rise because we have the capability to produce high quality vanilla. The miserable coffee farmers, whose crop has been affected by the coffee wilt will have something to fall back to," New said.

"Madagascar and Indonesia are the world's biggest suppliers but they cannot meet all the market requirements. The buyers in Europe, Japan and America say our product is of very high quality and they are willing to offer 20% more money for processed vanilla," He said.

New, however, warned farmers that while they received a very high price for their exported vanilla in the present season, the prices may come down with a bumper harvest.

"The shortage world wide caused a hike in prices and the local vanilla growers sold their vanilla to exporters for between sh10,000 to sh12,000 a kilogramme," New said.

He said growers should not expect to get these prices under normal circumstances. He said the prices might settle at sh5,000 to sh10,000.