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UgandaCoffee Federation
them. I will try to navigate the
coffee stories.
My coffeestory
Frommy childhood, I
instinctively loved farming
- andobserving shoots of
crops taller andbigger from
previous day andberries
of coffee turn fromgreen to
red in span of time - really
fascinatedme. You know,
seeing things grow, in away
signifiedmeaning of life in
real terms. One could see the
hand of God at play – really
magical stuff at that time.
I had not interactedwith
science and forces of cosmos
responsible for conditions
that facilitatenatural shifts,
weather partners etc.– but like
I truly believed at the time,
it is all action and story of
Godandhis supremacy over
nature and livelihoods.
Later in the 1980’s, while
growing up in a farmers’
household, I saw coffee
farmingas a central pathway
get peopleout of poverty.
For example, our neighbours
like the family of Kamuhanda,
Makaraetc. of Nyeibingo
village, Rukungiri who had
more coffeewereaveragely
and visibly livingbetter lives,
for example, sending their
children togood schools.
Indeedmostly the truth that
formillions of Ugandans
directly and indirectly, coffee
paid and continues tocater
for their school fees and still
sustain their livelihoods today.
In fact, UgandaCoffee
Federation estimates that over
20% of Uganda’s population
directly earn all or a large
part of their cash income from
coffee.When I put a full stop
on final university exams in
2002- I headedhomeand
plantedmy first coffee tree.
I have sincenever looked
back.
Thecoffee story that we all
havea responsibility to tell
In theSeventhCentury,
inAbyssinia (present day
Ethiopia), it is believed that
agoat herder namedKaldi
discovered thecoffeeplant.
Kaldi, noticing that when his
flock nibbledon thebright
redberries of acertainbush
they becamemore energetic
(jumpinggoats), he chewed
on the fruit himself. His
exhilarationprompted him to
bring theberries toan Islamic
monk in anearbymonastery,
but themonk disapproved of
their useand threw them into
a fire, fromwhich an enticing
aromabillowed. The roasted
beanswerequickly raked
from theembers, groundup,
anddissolved inhot water,
yielding theworld’s first cup of
coffee.
This legend is timeless and
has romanticizedEthiopian
Coffee around theworld.
Ethiopia is regarded as origin
coffee – yet this is a shared
heritage andUganda is at the
center of it. Perhaps, this is an
important pointer for Uganda
tobe vigilant and tell its story.
Wemust tell our coffee story.
Collectively and individually;
what are your coffee stories?
For urbanites here today, I
for instance know that you
have had romanticdates over
coffee – but alsonegotiated
and sealedbusiness and
professional deals inporches
and terraces of our expanding
cafes/coffee houses in our
cities – fromGulu toKisoro.
As for farmerswho tend
to this phenomenal crop,
your stories of success and
challengesmust be somany.
As a coffee farmermyself,
I have lived andbreathed
them.
