- Published by
- CRS
A detailed account of CRS's vanilla value chain programme in Uganda, co-funded with Ben & Jerry's and the IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative from 2015 - 2020.
It describes the sector's structural challenges - low productivity, weak farmer organisations, theft, early harvesting and absent regulation - and how CRS applied its Value Chain Toolkit to address them.
Interventions included good agricultural practice training for 2,500 farmers, distribution of over 200,000 new vines, capacity building for the Rwenzori Farmers Cooperative Union, and formation of 63 savings groups.
A notable strand was CRS's role in brokering a new public policy framework, resulting in district ordinances, national harvest date declarations and the relaunch of the exporters' association VANEX.
The report includes impact data, two farmer case studies and lessons on theft prevention, lead-firm partnerships and crop diversification.