Igara Growers Tea Factory

Igara Growers Tea Factory Limited (Igara) is a small holder tea Factory located in the South Western part of Uganda in Kyamuhunga Sub-county, Igara West, Bushenyi District. It was established in 1969 as part of the governments’ effort to reduce poverty in the 1960’s. Government by an act of Parliament established Uganda Tea Growers Corporation (UTGC) in 1966 to take care of the interests of smallholder tea farmers in Uganda and as their green leaf production increased UTGC put up Igara as one of the four smallholder tea factories in Uganda to process leaf obtained from Bushenyi district. During the 1970’s political instability led to a decline in the entire tea industry and this almost brought Igara to a close as the factory was deprived of all essential inputs required to run it and vast amounts of tea fields were abandoned. In 1989, a European Union funded ten-year tea rehabilitation project in the small holder tea sub sector started. The project covered the rehabilitation of farmers’ gardens as well as the processing factories. As part of governments’ overall divestiture programme, Igara and indeed the other three smallholder tea factories of Mabale, Mpanga, and Kayonza growers were privatized and sold to the smallholder tea farmers in the respective areas. The process started in 1995 and was completed in 2000 when full small holder ownership was attained.