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 dollar,” Nsimadala, the regional women representative of the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation and the treasurer of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance, told Free Speech Radio News. Prices dropped so low that farmers fed bananas to livestock instead of bothering to sell them at a loss.
Through a series of training sessions with various organizations, 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 percent” 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.”
“The market for banana wine is readily available, actually exceeding the production,” 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.
