‘North can give Uganda 20 million bags of coffee’

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government has reechoed its efforts in promoting coffee growing in Northern Uganda as it aims to achieve its ambitious plans of producing 20 million bags of coffee by 2030.

Eunice Kabibi, the acting Managing Director of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) told stakeholders Thursday that Northern Uganda still has abundant fertile land suitable for coffee production.

Speaking at the international Coffee Day celebration held in Gulu City, Kabibi notes that the fertility of the land in Northern Uganda makes it a strategic region for the country in pursuit of producing 20 million bags of coffee by 2030.

“We have a team of UCDA that has been doing soil testing here and it has been confirmed that we can do coffee in Northern Uganda,” says Kabibi.

According to statistics from UCDA, Uganda’s coffee exports in the Financial Year 2023/24 were 6.13 million bags valued at 1.144 billion US Dollars. The government initially targeted the achievement of 20 million coffee bags by 2020.

Kabibi however notes that with the potential Northern Uganda presents in the coffee sector, the target of producing 20 million bags by 2030 will be ably achieved.

Thursday’s celebration marked under the theme “Exploring the Unique Coffees from Northern Uganda” aims to highlight government intervention in promoting coffee growing as a means of socio-economic transformation.

Northern Uganda has predominantly been relying on annual crops like Cotton, simsim, cassava, and tobacco among others.

Kabibi however notes that the introduction of coffee in Northern Uganda over a decade ago marked the beginning of the region’s transition from annual crops to perennial crops.

She notes that coffee production in the region increased from 2,567 bags of coffee in 2023 to the current 4026 bags and the output is expected to double with the harvesting of the newly planted trees.

Fred Kyakulaga Bwino, the Minister of State for Agriculture who officiated the celebration noted that Northern Uganda remains a region with the potential of multiplying so many times the production of coffee in the country.

“We have already demonstrated that just Acholi can double the production of coffee. If you can then double other sub-regions, then the results will be good,” says Bwino.

He however says the utilization of land for coffee in the region remains low and encourages the farmers to put to good use their lands for cultivating coffee.

For instance, Bwino notes that with the region’s estimated 28,000 sq km of land size, if 4,000 sq km could be used for cultivating coffee in Acholi, the region would get an economy of approximately 1 billion US Dollars equivalent to the country’s production.

With Uganda’s estimated 240,000 sq km land size, only about 3,539 sq km (about 1.5 percent) is sustaining coffee production, earning the country 1.1 billion shillings out of the 50 billion GDP according to the minister.

To achieve the goals of boosting coffee production, Bwino notes that there is a need to carry out mass mobilization of the general populace on mindset change.

“The biggest issue is the mindset change., it’s the mobilization, we should start by mobilizing the population, and the rest would come,” he said.

State Minister for Northern Uganda Rehabilitation Dr. Kenneth Omona however suggested a role out of a special programme for coffee in the North. “We will need affirmative action; a special programme meant to introduce and roll out coffee in Northern Uganda. And then it therefore means that we must have more extension workers to train the people,” he said.

Currently, 127,184 households in Northern Uganda are growing coffee and producing 962,278 60kg bags of coffee beans per year. New entrants, especially the smallholder farmers in the coffee sector however say access to seedlings remains a hurdle coupled with the high prices of the new coffee varieties.

Alfred Ojok, Chairman of Board Lalar Coffee and Poultry Cooperative Society Ltd, and a coffee farmer in Paminyai Sub-County in Nwoya District says the majority of the members haven’t been able to plant this season because they lack coffee seedlings. Ojok asked the government to continue its support to smallholder farmers in the region with coffee seedlings since the majority have now shown interest.

Nighty Alanyo, another new coffee farmer and a member of the Paminyai Coffee growers in Nwoya district says she is currently stuck and able to fill holes she dug for coffee after failing to access coffee seedlings.

Alanyo notes that she dug 450 holes but was only able to plant 25 coffee trees.

Dr. Charles Mugoya, UCDA Board Chairperson however says the distribution of free coffee seedlings has been halted due to policy changes at the authority which now emphasizes support for certified coffee nurseries. He says UCDA is making concerted efforts towards ensuring Northern Uganda emerges as one of the country’s coffee hubs.

“UCDA has remained committed to supporting coffee farmers in Northern Uganda and ensuring the sustainable development of the sector. The concerted efforts of all stakeholders are expected to transform Northern Uganda into a robust coffee production hub, which is expected to drive economic growth and improve livelihoods,” said Dr Mugoya.

According to Dr Mugoya, over the past five years, UCDA has invested up to 8 billion shillings in coffee interventions across 33 districts covering Lango, Acholi, Karamoja and West Nile sub-regions. By 2023, UCDA had distributed a total of 30 million seedlings to farmers in Northern Uganda.

So far, 48.5 million coffee trees have been planted in Northern Uganda with 24.3 million trees in the production stage.

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