Esco Uganda: Exploring region’s chocolate-flavored vanilla, farm practices and global challenges
03 Jul 2024 | Esco Uganda
We sit down with Julien Aillerie, commercial director of Esco Uganda, to explore how Ugandan vanilla stacks up against other types in quality and flavor. Discover the bonding practices Esco Uganda employs with vanilla farmers and the key challenges faced by exporters.
So, hello.
Welcome to Personal Care Insights interview.
My name is Fena Patel, senior journalist at Personal Care Insights, and today I'm with ESCO Uganda.
So thank you for joining me today.
Can you please introduce yourself and the company?
Yes, good day.
My name is, Julian Ari.
I'm I'm a commercial director for, ESCO Uganda.
We are one of the leading, players in, vanilla exports in Uganda.
Mhm.
So thank you.
So tell me, how does Ugandan vanilla compare to, compare in quality and flavor profile to Madagascar vanilla?
Yeah, so, what, what I can say about this is that, first of all, the variety of vanilla that, we are growing here in Uganda is the, is the same as what is growing in in Madagascar.
It is the, the planifolia type.
So this is, this is bringing a lot of similarities between the two origins, and making it very, very different from the, from the ori from the other, origins such as, , Indonesia, Papua New Guinea where you can find, different types of, of, of, of plants, of, of variety of, of vanilla.
So this, this said, there is still quite some, some differences in, flavor profile between Ugandan vanilla and Madagascar vanilla, that can be explained, by, by two factors, mainly.
The first one.
Would be what, what I would call the, the terroir, so basically a combination of, weather patterns, type of soils, and everything that is, part of the environment where, where the vanilla is growing and maybe the, the other factor that is, creating some, some, some small differences is just the way, people are curing and preparing the vanilla.
From the moment you harvest it as a green vanilla.
All the way to the to to when you export it as a black, ready vania so.
I would say in terms of, you know, vanillin content, for example, we, we, we can see that Ugandan vanilla is, is, is extremely high and has actually nothing, to envy, Madagascar.
Quite often we, we, we see, we see, higher content of vanillin, in, in our vanillas, but in terms of, , really flavor profile, and, you know, the, the different.
In, in the aroma of the vanilla, there is indeed some difference, from the feedback I've received from all our, all our international buyers and the people who are, who are actually extracting the, the aroma from, from the vanilla, it, it seems that, Ugandan vanilla has a little bit more of a, of a chocolate, chocolatey, aroma.
Compared, compared to, to Madagascar, and Madagascar is known to have a bit more depth, in, in, in the aroma and in the.
A bit more complexity in, in the flavor profile.
So I would say just to, to, to summarize the, the, the, the flavor profile, the quality can be compared, however, it is not exactly similar.
Therefore, it's, it's can be hard for, for a flavor, flavor company.
To just replace Ugandan vanilla, sorry, Madagascar vanilla by Ugandan, however, it is, it is doable, maybe the last thing I, I can say about it is that, , Madagascar has a longer, experience, has many, many, many years of, of experience in, in, in Madagascar, in vanilla, while in Uganda it's a bit of a more.
A younger crop, so, you know, we are still building this expertise and that's why as an example, a lot of us are actually going to Madagascar to learn, to understand exactly what are the processes, , that they are using, you know, to bring, to bring vanilla, which is very delicate product, you know, to, to, to, to such a quality.
And I think Uganda every year is actually increasing the the quality on, on the flavor profile.
Mhm.
So thanks for explaining, the difference and, how it's compared.
My next question is, can you also explain the sustainability practices that your company employs in vanilla farming?
Yes, sure, so.
Our, our company, EskO Uganda, has, has got a very large experience in, in, in certification.
So this is one of the, one of the pillars, of our sustainability, strategy.
So, you know, a lot of our, vanillas are, are certified.
So we are currently working with, 3 different types of certification in, in Uganda.
The first one is organic.
The second one is, fair trade.
So for, for this part, we are working directly with, with cooperatives, from which we are buying both, cocoa and, and vanilla.
And we also work with Rainforest Alliance.
Certification, on, on our vanillas.
So, basically, this, these three, certifications imply, traceability system that we must control, from the farmer all the way to the, to the, to the, to the batch, when it's ready to be exported.
Then on, on top of this, certification programs, what, what we're trying to do is trying to provide, our farmer networks, with, some training.
So this is, this is part of the certification, but also outside the certification, some training and also, what the farmers is demanding is, access to information.
So, you know, basically that's what we're trying to do, provide them with some information about the, the global markets, the, the crop outlook and all this we're trying to do ahead of the crops, so that they can, you know, try to, to, to plan ahead.
So besides the certification programs.
What, what we are trying to do is create, a stronger link, between us, the exporter, and, and the farmers, the farmer network we are, we are working with, and, what, what, what the farmers are actually, asking from us and what we're trying to, to provide to them is a better access to information.
So that's what we're trying to do by organizing, large, farmer meetings in all the areas where, where we source and trying to give them some information about the, the crop outlook, the, the global market, to try to, to, to make them actors and to try to make, to, to, to make them understand, you know, what, what, what could, the vanilla sector look like, now but also in the, in the coming years.
So that's, that's, that's what we're trying to do by, you know, just creating a stronger bond, between, our farmer networks and, and us.
Mhm.
And speaking on challenges, how do you see, what like what are the key challenges that are faced by Ugandan vanilla exporters in the global market?
It's a very good question because there's basically one main challenge, that, that we are facing is that we are, we are currently, positioned, as, you know, the, the, the number 2, country of origin, after Madagascar, but basically we are extremely dependent on what's going on in Madagascar.
What I, what, what by that is that, you know, when the, when the price in Madagascar falls, the, the price in Uganda will, will fall.
When there is an excess supply of Madagascar, vanilla, then it's, it's, it's, it's likely that that Uganda will receive a lot less demand, you know, on, on top of that, you know, Madagascar has a very strong branding, you know, it's, it's a very strong brand.
Where, you know, where everybody knows, that Madagascar is growing, growing vanilla, you know, you have this, this, bourbon.
Label, on, on, on Madagascar vanilla which Uganda does not have, so it, it, it, Uganda is sort of disqualified, to enter into many, products just because, it's written on the label that it should be bourbon, that it should be from, from Madagascar, so I think this is, this is one of the, the, the challenge that we are facing is that.
You know, the, the, the industry, the food and beverage, the, the, the care industry, , really has their eye on, on, on Madagascar and.
I think the message that we're trying to convey is that having a strong second origin like Uganda will help reduce, you know, this, this very big, boom and bust cycle, you know, by, by just creating a very strong alternate alternative.
So right now I think this is what Uganda miss misses, a bit of, of, of recognition.
A bit of, you know, just also just carrying out this message to the, to the public and to the consumer that indeed there is vanilla growing in, in Uganda, which, which, you know, it's a, it's a surprise for, a lot of people when they, when they hear about it.
So this is what we're trying to do by, all these branding, initiatives, we believe we have a, a good card to play.
And even, even the, the Madagascar, exporters and, and players in the vanilla market, are in agreement with the fact that, having a strong, Ugandan origin will be, the market, including Madagascar itself.
So, yeah, this is, this is the main, , challenge that we are, we, we are facing.
Mhm.
And can you tell me a little bit about the unique climate of Uganda and how it is good for the production of vanilla?
Sure, so the good thing about Uganda is that unlike, in Madagascar, for example, there are many areas, throughout the country where, where vanilla can, can grow, and, very good quality vanilla can, can, can, can grow, basically thanks to the, mainly thanks to the, , the very good quality of the, the soil that we have, and secondly due to the, the weather patterns, so.
What by that is that it, it rains quite a lot throughout the country, almost every day, but there's also sun almost every day, you know, then we have.
Yeah, somehow, you know, we have many parts of Uganda, so western with the western part, the central part, and now we have you have even like new areas that are starting growing vanilla that benefited from this very favorable weather pattern, and actually it is so good that unlike Madagascar again, Uganda has 2 crops per year, you know, where, where Madagascar, for example, has only has one.
So, you know, we harvest vanilla in July, in June, July, and we also harvest vanilla in smaller quantity in, in, in January.
So, yes, in a, in a, in a nutshell, the, the environment is, is extremely favorable, to vanilla, and on top of that you already have existing crops such as coffee, cocoa, which, which do very , actually, together with, with vanilla.
OK.
Yeah, so thank you so much for sharing and joining Personal Care Insights today, Julian.
You're most welcome.
My pleasure.
