When NGOs arrive in farming regions of Africa armed with fertiliser, seeds, and other agricultural inputs ready to supply and train growers, it’s generally thought of as a good thing. Increased yields mean more food security, right? Not if those yields negatively affect the market.
Consider what happened in southern Uganda, where Elizabeth Nsimadala grew bananas.
A project aimed at teaching farmers a better way to manage banana farms was supposed to be a boon for the community, but when farms began to overproduce, that quickly became a problem. “Instead of getting money from bananas, a bunch went as low as 500 Uganda shillings — this is something like a quarter of a US dollar,” Nsimadala, the regional women representative of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation and the treasurer of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, told . Prices dropped so low that farmers fed bananas to livestock instead of bothering to sell them at a loss.
It’s a common problem across Africa, where the cost of transporting crops to market is often more expensive than letting them rot. It was especially crippling in Uganda, the world’s second-largest banana producer; of all farmers there grow the crop, which is considered a staple akin to corn and rice. Nsimadala struggled to make ends meet, frequently went hungry, and repeatedly could not pay school fees for her two children. She and some other women banana growers organised a group, and the women began to consider making a value-added product that could help stabilise their bottom line. They stopped feeding the animals bananas and became vintners instead.
Through a series of training sessions with various organizations — including the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain, the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, the National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda, the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, and the Nyabubare Area Cooperative Enterprise — the women learned to make banana wine. They now sell their product under the brand name Tida Wines, and Nsimadala is one of the directors of the company. Made from ripe, peeled bananas that are boiled with water, mixed with yeast and sugar, fermented, and aged for a year, the product has exponentially increased the profitability of the women’s banana operation.
“When I do a comparison between the prices, it’s actually more than a hundred per cent” increase in profits from selling Tida Wine instead of fresh bananas, Nsimadala said in an interview with TakePart. “A bunch that can go for $10, once processed, you can be able to make a net profit of $200, which is unbelievable to many. To me it’s a reality because I am doing it. We are doing it, and we are getting the results.”
Batwa tribes people fermenting the plantains to make plantain wine on the edge of Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Source: Getty Images, In Pictures
Banana beer, generally made on a small scale but also commercially available, has long been a staple in East Africa. But banana wine is a new product for the region, debuting about eight years ago, peaking in the past three, and still “selling like hot cakes,” Nsimadala said.
“The market for banana wine is readily available, actually exceeding the production,” she said, pointing out that Uganda has the highest alcohol consumption on the continent.
In 2004, Uganda topped the ’s ranking of countries around the globe based on per capita alcohol consumption. The economic and social costs of alcohol in the country may be worse than those of HIV and malaria, , and the country’s relationship with alcohol was the subject of a Vice documentary, .
The issue is a complicated one for Nsimadala and other women banana farmers now selling their small-batch banana wine. Their country’s demands for alcohol have radically changed her lifestyle. Food and financial security are no longer issues.
“I don’t at any time regret doing it as a business because of tremendous achievements. I mean, I am able to send my kids to the best schools in Uganda, drive a good car, live a decent and fairly admirable lifestyle,” she said.
The wine is only sold in and around southern Uganda, but Nsimadala has a marketing strategy for expansion that will get banana wine into supermarkets, bars, and additional stores across the country and beyond.
“Within the next few years, we hope to take banana wine across borders, and the sky will not even be our limit," she said.
