Feature: Ugandan farmers cash in on Chinese anti-malarial herbal plant

Tucked away in mountainous southwestern Uganda is Mugisha's Artemisia garden. Mugisha and his wife brave the biting coldness and mist every morning to tend to their 32 acre garden, a gold mine he calls it.

Artemisia is a Chinese anti-malarial herbal plant that is grown in parts of western Uganda on commercial basis. Artemisinin, which is extracted from Artemisia is a major component of new anti-malaria medicines known as Artemisinin-Based Combination Therapies (ACTs).

These drugs are critical in countries like Uganda where malaria kills over 140 people, mostly children and pregnant mothers in the country, daily.

It is at this point where Artemisia farmers get to cash in by planting the crop which takes a maximum of four to six months before harvest.

"Every area in the district was given an extension agent having been trained on the ground," Clate Rugwiza, the Artemisia farmer's coordinator in Kabale told Xinhua in a recent interview.

According to Mugisha, ranked by his peers as the best Artemisia farmer in Kabale, the two-meter long plant is sun-dried and crashed into a powder form before it is transported to factories where Artemisinin is extracted. Some of the powder is purchased by herbalist.

In a good harvest season, Mugisha said he harvested up to one ton of Artemisia.

In comparison to farming other crops, Mugisha argued that farming Artemisia was the way to go since it did not require a lot of attention during the growing stage.

"When you plant it, you weed once until harvest time. We are advised to harvest it during the dry spell to avoid it getting damp," he said as he tended to his garden.

Back at his house, about two km uphill away from his garden, Mugisha with the help of his wife is sun-drying a pile of Artemisia.

He said through farming Artemisia, he has been able to build a permanent house and installed electricity.

A similar story is shared by many other farmers of Artemisia who say they have bought cows, goats and built houses among many other things.

Pay day is party day. Music blares out loud while bars and butcheries stock to the brim.

"The lifestyle changed tremendously, you only needed to be there at the time of buying, that is when farmers are excited," Rugwiza said with a beaming smile.

Apart from the commercial element of Artemisia, locals have devised other means for its use.

Many locals, instead of going to drug shops to purchase anti-malarial drugs, they resort to chewing the leaves of Artemisia.

"When malaria attacks, you just pick the leaves and chew, the malaria disappears," said Mugisha, noting that many of his neighbors go to his garden to pick leaves when they fall sick.

Rugwiza argued that although the locals say that they get cured by chewing the leaves, the experts are advising against the practice noting that it may reduce the efficacy of the drugs made out of Artemisinin. Endit