**4. High income derived from increased demand for oil palm**

In Uganda, palm oil and its products are mainly used as cooking oil and as a raw material for soap and detergents. Fresh fruit bunches from the nucleus estate, OPUL, and smallholder farmers are currently produced, gathered, and processed into crude palm oil at OPUL mills in Kalangala before being shipped for final product processing by BIDCO in Jinja. The production of oil palm and processing of palm oil is labor intensive and therefore generates opportunities along the value chain which contributes to an increase in different local income streams [30]. As noted earlier, Uganda imports vegetable oil yet there is an opportunity for increased production. The deficit provides an opportunity for local farmers to involve in oil palm production and alleviate rural poverty given the assured market for their farm produce through currently existing contract farming arrangements with large manufacturing companies. Direct investments in the oil palm-producing Islands have also led to the development of infrastructure and improved service delivery in these tourist hot spot areas generally boosting both the domestic and international tourism industry in the country. These developments as a result of oil palm production have thus provided wider avenues for tax collection by the government of Uganda from not only the different stages of the oil palm value chain but also other growing sectors of the local economy. Generally, Kalangala is performing positively on most development indicators, like roads, local income, farm roads, schools, health centers, and financial institutions contributing to the national gross domestic product (GDP).
