Plantain chips very profitable

Plantain chips are crunchy snacks made with either ripe or unripe plantains.
The chips made with unripe plantains are bright yellow while those made with ripe plantains are deep yellow in colour. The chips also known as sweet banana chips is great and healthy for all ages.
Plantain chips production is one of the easiest businesses you can start in Uganda if you want to generate quick cash.
The reasons why plantain chips production business is easy to set up is because plantain chips is a snacks widely eaten by all.

Plantains
According to Moses Lumu a banana and coffee agronomist, Uganda mostly grows the East African highland bananas (Matooke) but due to the increased demand for plantain, some farmers have come up to start growing the banana but on a small scale.
Locally known as gonja, plantains chips are trending among the corporate and has a ready market.
According to Teopista Nakawuka, a vendor at Owino Market, most of the gonja they sell in the market is imported from Democratic Republic of Congo.

Gonja is commonly served throughout the year with the most common form being the charcoal broiled which is easy for the women who prepare by the roadside in the suburbs.
This type of cooking requires little startup money; a charcoal stove and the gonja. A pair of the broiled gonja goes for Shs1,000.

Most local markets do not keep gonja in stock since it is fairly expensive and considered more of luxury than staple foods such as Matooke, cassava or sweet potatoes.
However, Nakasero, Owino, Kalerwe markets have both unripe and ripe gonja in abundance.
Nakawuka says. “In Owino, three fingers can go for Shs1,000 but the price is negotiable depending on the size. A bunch of gonja, depending on how many fingers it has and their size can go for between Shs30,000 to Shs40,000.”

Marketing chips
Children, teenagers, young and old people alike are the target market of the plantain chips.
“Parents pack for the school going children every morning. We also record high sales during school days,” says Grace Kisakye a leading plantain farmer who also adds value by processing it into chips.
Kisakye supplies her product to various supermarkets within and around Kampala.
Home, rather than school, is the most popular destination for eating crisps and savory snacks, with seven in 10 children (70 per cent) consuming them at home, against around half (48 per cent) who eat such snacks at school. After school, when children tend to choose their own snacks, 70 per cent select crisps and savoury snacks compared to lunch boxes, which mothers generally pack, where the most popular item is a savoury sandwich or roll.

Growing plantain
However small your piece of land is, it is still possible for you to grow plantain according to Lumu and you may mix it with the East African highland bananas (Matooke) and equally reap big from them.
After slashing and tilling the land, you are advised to dig holes which are 3X3m or 10X10 ft spread for marked spacing between the plants.
“The farmer should choose to either use metres or feet to avoid confusion,” says Lumu. The holes should be 2X2 or 2X3 ft for depth and width respectively depending on the amount of space one has.

“The holes can be filled with plant material and cow dung while the dry season ends. The plant material and cow dung help to increase soil nutrients to prepare it for the new crop. When it starts raining, this is the opportune time for the farmer to start planting even for the intercrops,” he says.

Health benefits
Other than the financial benefits accrued from growing gonja, it is also a major source of important body nutrients. The member of the banana family that is starchy and good source of carbohydrates, low in sugar and can be cooked or roasted over fire.
Gonja is rich in vitamin A, which helps check poor night vision, dry inflamed eyes, dry and rough skin, diarrhoea and loss of appetite. It also increases resistance to infections such as a cold.
Steamed gonja contains vitamin B6 and C, which boost immunity. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and plays a significant role in the production of collagen, a structural protein that strengthens blood vessels, aiding body tissue development and boosts immunity to diseases.

Branding plantain chips
With Plantain has advantage over other starchy foods because it contains protein, mineral and vitamins and medically plantain can be used to cure a lot of ailments including sore throat, tongilolitis diarrhea vomiting and it is said to be a major diet in the production of soy-chips which can be used in the treatment of kwashiorkor.
There is a great potential for the processing of plantain chips in Uganda. With the advent of globalisation, Uganda eating habits are changing to emulate those of the West.
This means that consumption of Western style fast foods is on the rise. Due to this reason the potential market size of fast food products is increasing at an exponential growth rate.

This is also evident from the entry of world famous fast food chains entering Ugandan market such as KFC, Café Javas and Java House among others.
Along with international chains there are large numbers of local restaurants, which also deal in similar kinds of Fast Food. There is a huge business opportunity in this area of the Fast Food Value Chain.
The market for plantain chips is national. With a population of more than 37 million people and an estimated national population growth rate of 3.1 per cent per annum, Uganda has a large market for plantain chips.

Producing districts
According to Moses Lumu in Uganda, plantain producing districts include, Mbarara, Bushenyi, Masaka, Rakai and Mbale. “We also import from DRC,” says Lumu.

Suckers
Peter Mugeni one of the leading breeders of banana sells each sucker at Shs2,500.
“The response is big. Farmers frequent my farm looking for the suckers,” says Mugeni.

(Lominda Afedraru)