Members of the Uganda Commercial Aloe Vera Farmers Association are to start exporting processed Aloe Vera products to Japan and Korea. The Director of Uganda Commercial Aloe Vera Farmers Association, Hajji Ali Sessanga told journalists on April 4, that the association had secured $600,000 (Shs1.5b), from a foreign lender to purchase a machine that would process Aloe Vera into various products for export and local consumption. The Aloe Vera plant contains a number of health benefits and has been used for medicinal purposes around the world for more than 3,500 years.

A vast research has been done on Aloe Vera and proved that the plant is very effective and significant in the treatment of various ailments and skin disorders, as well as making cosmetics.

Sessanga said the machine worth $300,000 (Shs540m) would process Aloe Vera into toothpaste, medicinal liquids, cosmetics and animal feeds. He said members would also export Aloe Vera flowers to Sudan where there is a market for it. The flowers are used in making Aloe Vera herbal tea.

Sessanga added that the machine has the capacity to crush harvests from 60 hectares (144 acres) per month. Uganda's Aloe Vera acreage coverage is 380 hectares (912 acres).

He said that part of the Shs1.5b would among other things be used to boost production so as to sustain supply in both local and international markets. "The association entered into a partnership with Southern Fields International of Texas US to strengthen Aloe Vera business in Uganda. We have already started buying the crop from farmers from various districts and once the machine arrives here next month, processing of the product will start immediately," he said.

Sessanga said the crop is currently being purchased from farmers in the districts of Kamuli, Kaliro, Kiboga, Rakai, Masindi and Kibale in preparation for huge production and exportation.

About 130,000 farmers in 26 districts of Uganda are currently involved in the growing of the crop but it is more concentrated in Kibale, Wakiso, Mukono, Masaka, Kiboga and Luwero among others. According to Sessanga, a hectare (2.4 acres) of land accommodates 4,000 Aloe Vera plants. Each plant produces five kilogrammes of Aloe Vera and each kilogramme costs Shs300.

Ssesanga said that farmers were previously being discouraged from producing on a large scale because there was a small market for the plant."But as we start processing, farmers are advised to return to massive production because the market is now available."