Market watch: Prices to rise

FOCUS: COFFEE

In Uganda, 1.5 million households are estimated to be dependent on coffee-related activities for their livelihood. However, coffee wilt and the twig borer remain the two major threats to coffee production across the country, with hard hitting effects on output, quality and prices.

As Uganda now focuses on producing at least 4.8 million bags of coffee by the end of 2016, Ambrose Agona, the director general of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) says these challenges are being addressed.

"NARO picked a lesson from the wilt which attacked almost 50% of the crop by 2002 and engaged in extensive research that has since produced seven wilt-resistant varieties, reviving production," he says.

THE TWIG BORER

The twig borer, which bores into twigs of coffee, is a big problem to farmers. John Nuwagaba, the general manager of the Ankole Coffee Producers Co-operative Union, says farmers in Ankole are losing the crop to the pest.

"This pest affects 8% of each crop and on the whole costs the country $40m per year," Agona says.

Agona, however, says the Government, using tissue-culture, is targeting to supply at least 200 million reliable seedlings in the next three to five years and contribute to sensitisation of farmers on how to maintain proper sanitation in the plantations.

While many farmers also prefer to plant albisia trees, locally known as mugavu for shade in the plantations, Agona says research now points out this tree as a host for the twig borer.

"Farmers should instead consider planting trees like the barkcloth tree, ficus natalensis as a shade tree," Agona advises.

KNOW YOUR COFFEE

While the trade names for coffee may seem rather complex, Teopista Nakkungu, a coffee development officer at aBi Trust, says, kiboko is coffee that is got from the plantation and dried under the sun; "parchment" is coffee that has been soaked, pulped in a central washing station and dried after labeled as FAQ refers to Fairly Average Quality coffee, the kind from which the skin has been removed before grading, usually from kiboko coffee.

The word "screen" and the letters such as "A" and "AA", according to Nakkungu are also given based on sizes of the coffee beans.

 According to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, robusta screen 18 is at $71.09, robusta screen 15 at $66.09, robusta screen 12 at $61.09, arabica Bugisu AA at $115.9, arabica Bugisu A at $114.9, arabica Bugisu PB at $114.9, arabica Bugisu B at $112.9, arabica Wugar at $113.9, arabica drugar at $97.9, kiboko from sh1,800 to sh2,400, FAQ from sh4,400 to sh5,200, arabica parchment sh4,200 to sh5,100 and drugar coffee sh3,900 to sh4,100.

With both private and public sector players working towards solutions to the pests and popularisation of coffee consumption in Uganda, there should be a change in prices with time.