Light Years IP

Product briefs

Ugandan Vanilla

• Ethiopian Fine Coffee
• Ethiopian Leather
• Kenyan Tea
• Madagascan Cocoa
• Malian Mudcloth (Bogolan)
• Mozambican Cashews
• Namibian Marula Oil
• Senegalese Artisanal Tuna
• Sudanese Barakat Cotton
• Tanzanian Blackwood
• Togolese Black Soap
• Ugandan Vanilla
• TV Animation
• The Creative Industries

Vanilla beans, long slender pods, are picked from vines and cured over a period of three to six months, using the traditional method of sun drying and sweating in wooden casks, where pods are set in the sun during the day and covered with blankets for the night. This allows the flavours to develop slowly and fully. Of the more than 250 compounds within the vanilla pod, vanillin is the most significant; it produces the vanilla aroma and flavour and imbues the pod with a distinctive flavour profile. Ugandan vanilla contains a notably high vanillin content of around 2% (up to 3.2% is found in the highest Ugandan grades) whereas Madagascan vanilla, currently the most well reputed and recognised origin, generally averages about 1.8%. The most common vanilla products in the retail market are beans and extract; pulp, paste and powder are also available for (food) manufacturing.

While Ugandan vanilla beans have only become readily available within the past four to five years, they are now considered among the top three or four varieties, according to an expert. In addition to producing high quality beans and using time-honoured production and curing methods, Uganda delivers premium quality beans consistently and in even supply. Up to 40% of Uganda’s beans are of gourmet quality, that is, whole bean grade A. Uganda has recently established some worldwide recognition, and confidence in its vanilla beans continues to grow.

Thousands of farmers cultivate Vanilla planifola on their small farms in central and eastern Uganda, where the rich, loamy soil, plentiful rainfall and tropical environment allow them to flourish. Each plant requires hand pollination, and picking the beans when fully ripe is critical to obtaining optimal flavour as vanillin develops in the last few weeks of maturation. Farmers sell green vanilla beans to firms that cure and export them. Ugandan farmers capture about $8 per kilogram while export prices for cured ‘pod’ beans are around $25 per kilogram.

A wholesaler in the foreign market may receive around $123-$138 per kilo for cured pods. At retail, these pods are attractively and hygienically packaged for the end user and may sell at retail for around $8 for five pods or the equivalent of $352 per kilo. Pure Ugandan vanilla extract is generally not sold in the retail market but goes directly to food production companies or is blended with other vanillas, balancing the flavour profile. Ndali Estate, a small Ugandan company, exports very high grade vanilla products including both extract (at $120 per kilo) and cured pods (at $1,100 per kilo).

In the view of some exporters who are testing the market, Ugandan vanilla, with its particularly high vanillin content, has the potential to be distinguished as a specialty product. One opinion expressed suggests there is an over-supplied capacity worldwide in the extracting industry, so a conventional strategy of on-shore processing will be unlikely to succeed. Instead, the Divine Chocolate model of a jointly owned distribution and marketing company based in the final markets could be considered, along with a deliberate PR-based campaign to highlight the story of the distinctiveness of this specialty product, as pod or extract. The extraction, if desired, might be sub-contracted, as the prime purpose of such a company would be sales and marketing.

In 2006, 200 tonnes of cured vanilla exports earned nearly $5 million; production in 2007 was up to 400 tonnes. Uganda has managed to produce the best characteristics of fine vanilla and provide steady high quality supply while increasing production rapidly. Through applying a business strategy that includes IP to raise retail value and gain more from the supply chain, experts suggest that the current Ugandan export price could increase 20-50% by securing a greater share of the existing revenue stream. A larger joint venture strategy might result in an export income volume of $50-90m p.a.