The Top 4 Lucrative Crops for 2019 -Uganda Farmer

The Top 4 Lucrative Crops for 2019 -Uganda Farmer

 By Tonny Abet 

1. Passion Fruits

Not labour and capital intensive. An acre of passion fruits will require an investment capital of about Shs4.9m. This cost will cover seedlings, manure/fertilizers (compost manure, cow dung, CAN and NPK), labour and pests and diseases management.

If you don’t have a water source, you may need to construct a water tank to harvest run off water. A tank with capacity to accommodate 50,000 litres of water will cost you a minimum of Shs1.5m.

An acre will accommodate 750 seedlings or less depending on the fertility of your soil and consequently spacing. The local purple variety starts flowering as early as three months and peaks at seven months.

A farmer can harvest the fruits for one and half years (72 weeks). Under good agronomic practices, a farmer can harvest a minimum of two bags per week.

This means a farmer can harvest 144 bags in 72 weeks or more. At an average farm gate price of Shs150, 000 per bag, a farmer will bank a gross profit of over Shs21m.

It is important to note that prices can go as high as Shs400, 000 per bag. If the 144 bags are sold at Shs200, 000 per bag, a framer will earn Shs28.8m. What a return on investment!

2. Pumpkins

Pumpkin farming isn’t labour and capital intensive. With an investment capital of about Shs1m, a farmer can earn over Shs6.7m.

This is because an acre will accommodate 450 pumpkin plants since spacing is 10ft*10ft (3 metres) apart. Considering the fact that one pumpkin plant can produce a minimum of 10 pumpkins, 450 plants will give you 4,500 pumpkins and if each is sold at the current farm gate price of Shs1,500, you will earn Shs6.75m in a space of about seven month.

All you need to get best results is apply manure before planting, apply a foliar fertilizer and manage pests and diseases well. It is important to note that a pumpkin can go up to Shs2, 0000

3. Cabbages

This is another vegetable crop that can mint you clean cash when grown during the off season. An acre can accommodate between 19,000 and 40,000 cabbages depending on the variety grown and consequently spacing.

Going by the average farm gate price of Shs700, a farmer can earn between Shs21m and Shs10.5m assuming he harvests 30,000 and 15,000 sizeable cabbages respectively.

An acre requires an investment of about Shs2m. For a farmer to get the best results, he must apply best agronomic practicess.

4. Onion

Although the onion has played second fiddle to conventionally cultivated crops, it might just be the next big thing in 2019. It is a goldmine waiting to be exploited. It can answer your perennial cash difficulties since its commercial potential is enormous. A net of onions weighing between 13-14kg fetches Sh35000 on average or Sh2500 per kg. With proper management a hectare of land can fetch between 14 to 17 tonne. Do the calculation. To obtain even higher returns you can use F1 varieties which have a harvest potential of up to 23 tonnes in a hectare. Most of these varieties only take three months to maturity which makes it possible to cultivate the crop for up to three times in a year. This is in contrast to other crops which can only be cultivated once or twice in a year. These should be your favourite profitable crops, as they all enjoy strong demand year after year, yet can be grown by anyone who has, or can learn a few basic gardening skills.