8 advantages of plantation agriculture

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. To ensure high quality crops many plantations have research centre which aim at developing high yield and disease resistant seeds.
Acquisition of skills by workers helps them to ensure continuity on the job.