Grape Farmers Ask Govt To Support Nursery Bed Construction

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Agriculture July 10, 2021

Grape farmers in the Ankole region are seeking government support in their quest to construct a nursery bed.

This nursery bed will facilitate their aim of having a variety of seedlings so as to have different types of grape produce.

Grape farming is a new agricultural venture with over 600 farmers in the Ankole region taking it up. There are at least 50 grape farmers in each district in the Ankole region.

However, there are only three types of grapes grown in Uganda with Vitus vinifera as the commonest for wine making.

The chairperson of Grape Farmers in Mbarara, Alex Asiimwe, says there are more farmers picking interest every day. This means that the cost of importing the seedlings from either Tanzania or South Africa is very high thereby keeping them away.

He further says that with the construction of a nursery bed in the area, grape farming will quickly become an agricultural enterprise. This is because grape farming is not considered by the government in enterprise crops.

He added that they want to introduce new varieties which are not around in Uganda for farmers to add to the current varieties. This would cost them over UGX 10M.

Apparently, they are only growing grapes for wine making but also want to grow grapes for eating.

Check Also;

This is not a Paywall, but Newslex Point's journalism consumes a lot of time, hard-work and money. That's why we're kindly requesting you to support us in anyway they can, for as little as $1 or more, you can support us .

Please use the button below to contribute to Newslex Point, Inc. using a credit card or via PayPal.