Pine is one of trees believed to be planted by the rich because of its long gestation period. This has seen many ordinary farmers abandon it for other ‘worthwhile’ crops.
However, with value addition through pine sap tapping, the above narrative has been demystified
A few years ago, the rise in world demand for turpentine (Pine oil) saw many Chinese come to Uganda in search of pine SAP. This is common in the districts of Mubende and Kyegegwa.
To ensure that Ugandans earn more from pine trees, Prof Bioresearch, a Ugandan company founded by Julius Nyanzi, an innovative youth, embarked on the campaign to train Ugandans on the art of tapping sap from pine trees.
Nyanzi says sap tapping is controlled to ensure pine trees don’t dry up. In the past, many farmers had a challenge of their trees drying up after sap harvesting. This was also due to the unprofessional method some investors were using in sap tapping.
Prof Bioresearch is advocating for the Y-method where cutting doesn’t touch the cambium of the tree. With the Y-method, the sap is tapped with the aid of a simulator which forces the sap to come out quickly.
In the spirit of value addition, Prof Bioresearch is training people on how to get turpentine (pine oil) from the sap. Prof Bioresearch is currently buying a litre of turpentine from farmers at Shs100,000.
Nyanzi says an acre accommodates about 400 pine trees. He says the sap extraction starts once the trees are 5 years and above. To get the oil, one needs a distiller just like it is with eucalyptus oil. Prof Bioresearch has the distillers.
“400 trees can produce 100 jerrycans (2,000 litres). Four trees can yield one jerrycan (20ltrs) of sap. The 100 jerrycans of sap can be distilled to get 600 litres of oil,” Nyanzi says, adding that a jerrycan of sap produces six litres of oil.
Going by the prevailing price of Shs100,000 per litre of pine oil at Prof Bioresearch, a farmer can earn as high as Shs60m from an acre of pine trees.
Uses of Pine Oil
“Sap tapping is the future of pine growing in Uganda. The idea is simple, harvest the sap then turn it into oil,” Nyanzi says, adding: “Ugandans need to wake up and embrace this value addition, the good thing is that we provide the market; turpentine is used in many areas including being used as a de-wormer for chicken and cows, treating ring worms, it’s also used in shampoo to treat itchy scalp, it is used in oil based paint especially those allergic to paraffin. It’s also a remedy for cough and flue plus all infections.”
For more information contact, Prof Bioresearch via Tel: 0702 061652 / 0779 519652
Email: profbioresearch@gmail.com
Money Grows on Trees Series by Omukenkufu Nyanzi Julius
