T H E C O F F E E Y E A R B O O K
2 0 1 5 / 2 0 1 6
44
UgandaCoffee Federation
2 0 M I L L I O N B A G S B Y 2 0 2 0
I
grewup from a small
villagecalled “Nyeibingo”
inRukungiri District,
SouthWesternpart of
Uganda. My fatherMr.
KhamutimaEricwas a
district forest officer and
a renowned coffee farmer
in the village. Every coffee
harvesting season, my
parentswould sit and
draft aplanon how to
wisely spend theprofits
from thecoffeebusiness.
Theywouldaswell
appreciate our support and
contributionduring coffee
andharvesting time.
It’s due to such that, as a
family, we fell in lovewith the
coffeebusiness. Our dad
literally instilled seeds in us,
taught us everything about
the coffeebusiness and how
to increase its productivity.
Considering the fact that our
parentswould tipus, as a
tokenof appreciation towards
our support in the coffee
farms, wewoulddo our best
to ensure that coffee trees are
ingreat conditions so that we
canalso harvest bigger tips
from our parents.
Whereas our householdwas
benefiting from the coffee
business, across the hills, it
wasn’t the samecasewith
other households. In the
neighborhood, therewere
two familieswhowere also
actively in the coffee trade.
Thesewere: Mr. Kifamatuand
Mr. Ndabahwerize families.
Sadly, their normwas to
spend themoneymade
from coffeeon ‘Tonto, the
famous local brew, andeating
‘Muchomo’ (the tasty roasted
meat). It was aculture, for
them. The twomenwould
go on a spending spree yet
their familieswouldgowithout
basicneeds like salt. Thiswas
heavily attributed to the fact
that therewas no unity and
entrepreneur knowledge to
put the resources from coffee
togooduse.
Theywould spendmost times
inbars, bingeing away, as
their womenandchildren,
whodidmost of themanual
work like landclearing,
production, planting, pruning
andharvesting, were left
with absolutely no authority
tomakedecisions over
the coffeemoney. As this
tendencywent on, thewomen
andchildren lost moraleand
startedworkingwith ‘I don’t
care’ attitudewhich is loosely
translated inRunyankole as
‘Binkwatiirekyi’.
Unlike the families of
Mr. KifamatuandMr.
Ndabahwerize, our dadwas
able to offer us education
evenwhenwe hadalmost
the same coffeegardens.
Wewent to school yet the
aforementioned families
couldn’t send their children to
school for reasonsmentioned
above. Much as these families
have continued todo the
coffeebusiness, they grow it
poorly.
Due toour dad’smentorship,
most of uswere inspired to
carry onwith thebusiness.
We are still currently involved
Weallbenefit
fromgrowing
coffeeas
afamily
business
TumwebazeKhamutima - C.E.O
YoungFarmersChampionsNetwork –YOFCHAN
