Ugandans urged to drink more coffee to spur local production

By Prossy Nandudu

Coffee experts have called on the Government to promote the consumption of coffee to spur production for both domestic and international markets.

The chairman of the African Fine Coffees Association, Harrison Kalua, said little coffee is consumed in Uganda, discouraging production.

“The first thing we need to work on is domestic consumption. It is critical that we change the mindset among our people,” Kalua said.

He was speaking at a breakfast meeting organised by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and other coffee stakeholders ahead of for the African Fine Coffees Conference and Exhibition scheduled for next February at the Speke Resort Hotel Munyonyo.

The conference is aimed at linking farmers with potential buyers to eliminate middlemen and build trade relations and networks to gather information on coffee. Kalua said the low production of coffee does not encourage value-addition and limits the growth of domestic markets.

He added that many African countries do not grow coffee, and a few that do prefer exporting it to Europe and the US.

“What we need to do is first create a demand within Africa. Once we do that, it would be easier for us to invest and add value to access the European market with ease,” Kalua noted.

At the same meeting, UCDA announced that they had contracted a commercial producer to multiply two million seedlings of coffee that will be distributed in coffee growing areas across the country.

The seedlings are being multiplied from the recently-released seven lines of coffee that are resistant to diseases such as the coffee wilt that has been one of the biggest threats to coffee production in Uganda