 Chilli growing for income
Parents and guardians of orphans and disabled children grow chillies with advice and support from the Children's Project's chilli field extension officers: Warren, Zaire and David. They grade, weigh and transport the chillies back to the Project's chilli store by truck, and then, at the end of the growing season up to Kampala for export. There are two growing seasons each year.
The majority of the sale money from the exporter goes to back to the growers, the rest goes towards the chilli truck's fuel and tyre repairs.
Growers are encouraged to spend their income on school fees first then school materials, metal roofing, medicine, etc. All of the families who are helped by the project, whether at surgical camps, deaf school eduction and so on, are encouraged to grow chilli in order to pay for some of the extra things these children need e.g. repairs to wheelchairs, transport to and from the deaf school, transport to our clinics.
During the first season of 2009, the farmers collectively grew and dried 2.75 tonnes of chilli which we took up to Kampala for sale on 8th June. Our exporters were very pleased with the crop saying our chilli is the best quality chilli produced in all of Uganda! This is due our Project team training new farmers on how to grow, when to pick and how best to dry.
The Project needs money for:
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durable plastic sheeting (£1,000 per year)
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hoes
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hessian sacks
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salary of the Project workers
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motorbike repairs
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insurance and petrol (prices rising).
Go to more photos of Chilli growing for income in our gallery wesbite > |
