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C
offee remains among Uganda’s top principal export
wage earner, not only in the commodity market
segment, but also other areas of the country’s general
export trade
The Agricultural Business Initiative (aBi) Trust has and still is
gearing efforts towards boosting the coffee sector in Uganda
through interventions such as encouraging and supporting
farmers to undertake Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs
currently with 70% farmer uptake), modern Post Harvest
Handling, promotion of nurseries to provide clean planting
material, pests and disease control technology, capacity
building and promoting coffee standards and value addition
alongside the various Value Chain Development (VCD)
systems.
aBi’ vision for a competitive private sector led coffee industry
inUganda isbasedonanagribusinessapproach,where value
chainactorsare thebeneficiaries.The focus isonsustainability,
profitability and impact investment.
Support is extended to Implementing Partners (IPs) to
implement activities that mitigate challenges related to limited
market access, poor or limited clean planting materials, low
production and productivity, limited investment capital and
weak extension system
aBi through IPs supports several interventionswhichwill result
in increased incomes and employment. The IPs are usually
Farmers Organisations (FOs), Enterprises (including small,
medium and large) and Business Development Services
(BDS) providers. To date, aBi Trust partnership with IPs has
directly reached97,720 farmers throughvariouscoffeeproject
activities implemented by 27 IPs and 30 projects throughout
the country.
According toUCDA report (2014), improvedmarketing efforts
in the country showed that out of the 28 coffee exporters
25% were aBi supported IPs whom with aBi financial and
technical support has either risen in the ranking for the first
time or improved to occupy better ranking positions in the
coffee export chart. Availability of knowledge and information
is strengthened through the established 30 micro centres
under centres of excellence in 14 districts. In 2014, over
