Kampala — Though he started his loofah-growing (Ebyangwe) project on a non-commercial project six years ago, James Bagambana, 83, currently has too much demand for them. Barambana of Tree Shade Kabwohe Hill in Kabwohe-Itendero Town Council says: "I only got interested in the project to tap the already existing market from the neighbouring Nganwa High School. The students used to buy few sponges."

The different varieties of sponges are only differentiated by the size and the time they take to ripe.

"Loofahs takes between three to four months to get a ripe sponge and they cost sh300," Bagambana says. He says he has found the project profitable since it does not require much capital, land, labour and skills to set it up.