T H E C O F F E E Y E A R B O O K
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UgandaCoffee Federation
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Just likeEthiopia, Uganda is
alsooriginal homeof coffee.
Just like river Nile, Uganda
shares this heritagewith
Ethiopia.When youmeet
Ethiopians, theywill tell you
Source of Nile is in their
Country –Wealso tell them
Uganda is the source of
the longest river on earth –
TheNile. The fiercedebate
sometimes goes on and
on. But truth iswe share
this heritage at both Jinja in
Uganda andDambiya (Lake
Tana) inEthiopia. This is
the samewithCoffeeboth
in those historic highland of
Ethiopia and theNganda
regions of Uganda. For
Ethiopia it isArabica
species and for Uganda
it isRobusta species.
IndeedExplorer John
Speke’swritings of his
journey throughwhat is
nowUganda, described
coffeebeingprepared
as a soup here.
As all of us probably
know, wild varieties
are still found in the
foothills of theRwenzori
Mountains inwestern
Uganda, where they are
harvestedas a specialty
ECO coffee andmarketed
as the “Kibalewild”. The
bushes of theNganda and
Erecta varieties aregrown in
acrescent on theplains north
andwest of LakeVictoria
at an altitude of about 1200
metres. Nowwe have a
coffee story that unites us as
apeople, as anation. This is
a story that thosebranding
Uganda should tell. It is a
story our leaders should tell.
It is a story that Ugandans
abroad should shout out. It
is a story that our embassies
shouldpackageandwidely
share.
The story of coffee in
Uganda’s economy
Coffee has stood the test
of time. You know, by
1914, European andAsian
farmers hadestablished 135
plantations, occupying 58,000
acres of land, but the crop
was abandonedwhenprices
fell in the1920s. It was left
toUgandan smallholders to
continue the farmingof coffee,
though at first the acreage
was insignificant. By 1931,
only 17,000 acreswere under
cultivation. The coffeeBoard
was set up in 1929, later
becoming theCoffee Industry
Board in1943and then the
CoffeeMarketingBoard in
1959. The subsequent years
of civil strife inUganda saw
economic life stagnateand
coffeeproduction fall back.
TheNational Resistance
Movement (NRM) government
returned stability to the
country after takingpower
in 1986, but the collapse
of the International Coffee
Agreement three years later
promptedworldprices to
crash a littlemore than half
their previous level. Prices
recoveredbriefly following
the frost, which in June
1994destroyedmuch of the
Brazilian crop for that and
the following year. Ugandan
production increased in
response to the higher prices,
with exports reaching4million
bags in 1995-96and 1996-97.
Since thenwehave not been
able tomeaningfully expand
productivity. Now the target
has been set at thehighest
level of government. The
potential to top theworld is
before us- and I know, it will
happen in2020. Let’s not slip
upbut keep themomentum.
The story
of coffee
challenges
I know
that coffee
farmers,
dealers,
processors
(upstream
and low
stream) face
monumental
challenges.
Fromclimate
change and
its adjuncts likes droughts,
water stress, floods (for
example, in 2010, major
floodingnear Uganda’sMt.
Elgonwipedout more than
60,000coffee trees and
killednearly 400people).
There aremore challenges
like; diminishingquality
of soils, quality inputs like
seedlings, pesticides and
herbicides; post harvests
losses duepoor facilities
for drying and storage,
inadequate knowledge
dues tochallenges in
delivery of extension
services, weak farmer
...fundingby15%points to focuson
plant varieties that arewater efficient,
drought resilient, pest resistant andhigh
yielding..
