Vanilla’s allure goes far beyond its flavour and fragrance. Its lucrative value has made it a magnet for thieves.
The crop’s lucrative nature attracts both opportunistic thieves and organised criminal groups, making security a constant concern for farmers. Many vanilla growers say theft is their greatest fear, often forcing them to spend sleepless nights guarding their fields.
Unlike most crops, vanilla requires intensive security, with some farmers hiring armed guards to protect their gardens during the harvesting season.
High stakes
According to players in the vanilla sector, these security measures significantly increase production costs, reducing farmers’ profits despite the crop’s high value.
‘We can never stop worrying about thieves. It’s one issue that sends chills down my spine almost all the time. Our gardens are now guarded like barracks.
‘Otherwise, you lose your harvests and potentially your life,’ a vanilla farmer told BD Life at a two-day conference in Kampala last week.
Mr Joseph Lukandwa, a senior member of the Association of Vanilla Exporters of Uganda, backed up these claims.
He noted that vanilla theft became a major issue between 2010 and 2016. During that time, he said the price of the crop hit an average of Shs350,000 per kilogramme. This was about 25 times more than a kilo of Arabica coffee.
‘This caused a lot of insecurity. There were many thefts of vanilla beans. In some cases, people were hurt and some lost their lives,’ Mr Lukandwa said.
‘Vanilla farmers were compelled to hire security guards. Some were armed to keep thieves away.’
The situation also hurt the quality of the product as farmers were harvesting premature beans before thieves could raid the gardens, affecting the quality, which caused challenges on the global market.
Given concerns relating to theft, the project ‘Vani-Coops was born. As part of the project activities, a two-day multi-stakeholder conference was held in Kampala, to, among other things, address the theft of vanilla crops.
According to the country representative at ISP Uganda, Ms Stefania Ceruso, theft is a major concern within the vanilla value chain.
As the two-day deliberations ended, it became clear that a better understanding of the harvesting window, coupled with improved harvesting practices, is key to addressing the problem of vanilla theft.
‘Declaring the harvesting window is one of the tools to reduce the possibility of theft and the sale of low-quality vanilla, Ms Ceruso said.
‘While we are concerned and involved in ending this, the regulation and enforcement of these measures remain the responsibility of the relevant authorities,’ says the ISP representative in Uganda.
Price volatility
While vanilla theft is less common than it once was, farmers remain on high alert.
Although prices have fallen sharply in recent years, vanilla still commands about Shs20,000 per kilogramme-around twice the price of coffee. That premium still makes the crop valuable enough for farmers to guard closely.
In an interview, Dr Robert Okello Ongom said vanilla theft must be nipped in the bud because it ruins crop quality.
Dr Ongom, a horticulturist and team leader at Makerere University’s Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, revealed that the university is working with the government to create an official vanilla harvesting calendar to fight theft.
He explained that the Ministry of Agriculture uses a scientific model developed by the university to determine the official harvesting dates for vanilla. This helps ensure that beans are harvested at the right stage of maturity, maintaining high quality and protecting farmers’ earnings.
He added that following the designated harvesting period is crucial for maintaining the reputation of Ugandan vanilla in export markets.
Harvesting beans too early or too late reduces their quality, which can lower their value and weaken buyer confidence in Uganda’s vanilla.
Uganda has two harvesting seasons, each lasting about three months.
‘If the harvest window is declared, growers only need to guard their fields for a total of six months instead of all 12 months of the year,’ Dr Ongom said. ‘This makes protecting the vanilla much cheaper for farmers.’
Beyond theft
Uganda is the second-largest exporter of vanilla in Africa and globally renowned for premium vanilla beans.
The country accounts for a substantial share of global exports, with major destination markets including the United States, Tanzania, Switzerland, France, and the Netherlands.
Ugandan vanilla is celebrated for its premium quality and distinct flavour. Farmers remain heavily impacted by volatile international vanilla market prices, which have seen significant fluctuations in recent years.
Already, the sector cultivated primarily in the Central, Eastern and Western regions of the country is fending off challenges ranging from fluctuating global prices and premature harvesting and post-harvest handling challenges.
This is despite the sector providing a critical source of livelihood for nearly 70,000 smallholder farmers across nearly 40 districts in the country.
Some of the districts where vanilla is largely grown include Bundibugyo, Kasese, Ntoroko, Bunyangabu, Rubirizi, and Ibanda. This is in addition to Kayunga, Mukono, Mpigi, Jinja, Kamuli, and Luwero.
Speaking in an interview last week, Mr Kizito Odongo, the acting principal agricultural officer in charge of horticulture at the Agriculture Ministry, noted that vanilla remains a high-value, non-traditional cash crop prioritised by the government to boost household incomes.
To safeguard farmers against rampant theft and poor quality, Odongo stated that the Ministry is assisting local governments in developing ordinances and bylaws.
‘Several challenges have been noticed over the years, right from 2019, with theft being one of them,’ he explained.
‘This is in addition to price volatility and quality issues, all of which the government is addressing.’
To enforce quality control and promote self-regulation at the local level, the Ministry introduced the National Vanilla Harvest Window in 2019.
‘Over the last six years, we have seen remarkable progress in the quality of vanilla,’ Odongo added.
Meanwhile, the government is also promoting agroforestry to maximise land productivity. By mimicking natural ecosystems, this sustainable practice provides economic, social, and environmental benefits. ‘
‘You can have other crops like bananas growing together with vanilla, including other fruit trees, to increase your income,’ Mr Odongo said.
Connecting markets
Uganda can easily become the leading producer of vanilla in the world. But, there is a need for some effort to spur its growth across global markets.
The government is already promoting vanilla as a high-value crop. Given its demand, Vani Coops project, an Italian-funded initiative, aims at supporting vanilla growers in the districts of Mukono, Luwero and Jinja.
‘We decided to start this project to ensure a more equal distribution of value along the vanilla value chain, starting from where the value actually begins, with the growers.
‘We are cooperating with all stakeholders to support the growth of the sector and, especially, to increase knowledge and opportunities for vanilla growers in Uganda.
‘The project addresses different segments of the vanilla value chain. We start with the growers. The idea is to connect Ugandan vanilla with the Europeans, and particularly the Italian market. This can be through different actions, especially by strengthening the capacity of growers to connect directly with buyers,’ Ms Ceruso, said, noting that the project, which started in November 2025, will last three years.
Ms Ceruso said the project is supported by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation under the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with a project budget of around pound 1.2 million.
‘We are targeting about 20,000 farmers across the three districts of Jinja, Iganga and Mukono,’ Ms Ceruso said.
As for the Italian Ambassador to Uganda, Mauro Massoni, Italian involvement in Uganda goes beyond just a focus on health to also areas that provide economic and income-generating benefits.
Since my arrival in Uganda two and a half years ago, I have felt that while health remains very important, we should also expand our focus to other sectors, particularly agriculture.
For instance, Amb Massoni noted that this project is focused on improving both quality and production, while increasing the opportunities for farmers to earn more money. One way of doing that is by opening up new markets
‘This project can create added value in the vanilla sector and generate new export opportunities for this product in my country Italy.’