Plantation agriculture refers to the commercial farming where cash crops are grown on a large scale specifically for sale.
Crops that are grown under plantation agriculture include; sugarcane, tea, sisal, coffee, pyrethrum, cloves, bananas and oil palm.
- The major plantations in East Africa include Kakira in Jinja for sugarcane, Lugazi (SCOUL) for sugarcane, Kasaku tea estate near Lugazi, Kericho tea estate, Mwea-Tebere for rice, Mumias for sugar, Kibimba (Tilda Uganda Limited) for rice, Kilombero for sugarcane and Morogoro sisal estate and Zanzibar clove estate.
Advantages of plantation agriculture
- It has led to the development of infrastructure e.g. roads, schools, hospitals leading to urbanisation.
- They employ many workers leading to improved standards of living.
- They increase the tax base for the government hence increased the revenue used for developing roads.
- Foreign exchange is obtained from the exportation of the products used for developing hospitals.
- Leads to industrial growth through provision of raw materials especially to agro-based industries e.g. Kakira sugar works.
- Plantation farms provide a market for the out-grower’s produce hence ensuring a constant flow of income.
- Plantation farms encourage research leading to improved and better quality crops.
- Acquisition of skills by workers helps them to ensure continuity on the job.
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