"Vanilla Moon" is the brand name for vanilla produced and processed under a joint venture with farmer associations and international partners in the western Ugandan district of Kasese.

The Kasese Smallholder Income and Investment Program: Working Together to Increase Smallholder Incomes in Kasese

The Kasese Smallholder Income and Investment Program (KSIIP) is a unique collaborative effort between a Catholic charitable foundation based in the Netherlands (CORDAID), a Dutch horticultural products trading firm (Highlow Supermarkt B.V.), two specialist horticultural consulting firms (US-based Fintrac Inc. and its Ugandan affiliate Agribusiness Management Associates Ltd.), and seven Kasese-based smallholder grower associations. With start-up grant and loan funding provided by CORAID, more than 80 percent of program costs are funded through income generating activities of the program itself in a unique business model being applied to a development program. Through the introduction and expansion of high-value crop production in Kasese District, the program seeks to more than quadruple the incomes of more than 2,000 farm families.

KSIIP is providing direct farm-level production, postharvest, and marketing assistance to more than 2,000 farmers through partnerships with seven smallholder associations. It is likely that additional smallholder association partners will be added over the five years that KSIIP is scheduled to operate. Initial crops being supported are vanilla, passion fruit, and hot peppers (all for export) as well as production of local market vegetables. The variety of crops is expected to expand as new markets are identified. Over the first five years, KSIIP is expected to directly generate an additional US$6.7 million in additional high-value exports for Uganda.

Kasese

Kasese District is located in western Uganda and borders the Congo. Dominated by the Rwenzori mountains ("Mountains of the Moon"), it is a region of unequalled beauty and wildlife diversity. A large portion of Kasese's 2,724 square kilometers is comrpised of Queen Elizabeth National Park, one of the premier game parks in east Africa. The total population of Kasese District is estimated at 450,000, with about 50,000 living in the town of Kasese. Over 85 percent of the population is comprised of peasant farmers engaged primarily in subsistence farming for food supply with minimal sales of cash crops. Kasese is one of poorest regions in Uganda, having received less development assistance than other areas closer to the capital of Kampala.