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UgandaCoffee Federation
groups and cooperatives,
price of electricity and other
infrastructural challenges,
old coffee trees, high interest
rates, lowdomesticmarket
for valueadded and specialty
coffees, pricing system for
coffee that gives producers
no choice - among others.
During a recent past African
Peer Reviewmechanism,
President Museveni
summarized theCoffee
problem;
“Thecoffeebean from
Uganda has been exported
toUnitedKingdomat US $1
per kilogram for the last 100
years. Thepriceof the coffee
bean has recentlymoved to
US $3per kilogram in the
international market. Yet,
when this coffee is processed
in theUnitedKingdom it is
resold to us at US $15per
kilogram. Thismeans for
the last 100 yearswe have
beendonating 14dollars per
kilogram toUnitedKingdom.
Inaddition, we arecreating
jobs in their country for
their people in the coffee
processing chain”. But how
dowework our way out of
challenges andbottlenecks to
the story of success?
Reflections on coffee and the
story of actions and triumph
Government through
agencies likeUgandaCoffee
Development Authority,
responsibleministries and
farmer groups is fully aware
of thebottleneckswe face
and invested indelivering
solutions.
To expand our coffee fortunes
as farmers, chain actors
and theCountry, I want to
share and re-emphasise
six opportunities to explore
further and take action on;
Science and research:
Increase agriculture research
fundingby 15%points to
focus onplant varieties that
arewater efficient, drought
resilient, pest resistant
andhigh yielding. I know
that our researchers have
developed seven strains of
theRobusta variety that are
wilt resistant. This should
expand toArabica variety
but also embed resistance to
droughts.
Revampandstreamline
extension services.
OperationWealthCreation
Operation (OWC) should
combine the logistical aspect
of extensionwith knowledge
andadvise services to
farmers. For example,
a recent OWC internal
evaluation revealed that over
65% of coffee seedlings
distributed in the last financial
year didn’t survive! This is a
whopping loss for farmers
and taxpayers. This scenario
could havebeenavoided
if OWC’s ability toquickly
andcost effectively deliver
inputswas supplemented
by timely technical advice
to farmers fromagronomic
knowledgeworkers.Working
with onground coffee farmer
associationswould serve
as a channel to scale up
knowledge and resilience
practices.
Boost domestic
consumption:
Uganda is
Africa’ssecond-biggest coffee
producer, after Ethiopiabut
consumes less than3percent
of its crop. Strategy toexpand
per-capita consumptionby 60
percent in five years should
be formulated, financed
and implemented. I know
UCDAhighlighted this need
sometimeback- but we all
need toemphasize this and
hold themon their promise to
deliver on it.
Strengthen coffee specific
farmer groupsandco-
operatives
. Thiswill be
critical to forma cadreship
of farmerswith situational
awareness regarding the
entire coffee value chain-
andcollectivedelivery of
solutions. Mix-up of farmers
in omnibus groupswhose
membership are involved
in acocktail of enterprises
makegroup action ineffective
andmostly impossible.
Importantly, Coffee specific
groups havepotential to
negotiate retention of valueat
farmer level, knowledge and
skills building, recruitment
of youth into coffee farming
and leadership, collective
negotiationof competitive
coffeeprices and favorable
interest rates amongothers.
Coffee tourism: Countries
are reaping fromagro-
tourismandcoffee is
leading thepack.
Coffee
tourism canbe conducted
in acoffeeplantation
environment - in areaswhere
Seemoreat:
