By Gerald Tenywa

Coffee, Uganda's main cash crop, has become endangered because it is sensitive to temperature increases. The small holder coffee farmers in the mountainous areas are among the first casualty of the warming of the earth.

Along the slopes of Mountain Rwenzori in Kasese district, Xavier Baluku, a farmer in Katabukenene village, has realised that climate change has started taking away part of his income.

He earns more money from growing coffee than any other crop, but fears that this may not last long. This is because yields of coffee, according to Baluku, have declined over the years.

"What has saved us is the rising price of coffee in the last two years," says Baluku. "We have been selling less coffee, but earning more than the previous years."

He added: "I know the prices will come down in the years to come and hit the incomes together with the socio-economic standing of most farmers."

Jimmy Baluku from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), says the coffee farmers' worries are well founded because a bag of coffee in the lower areas weighs an average of 70kgs and120kgs uphill.

Baluku says below 1,200 metres above sea level, the yields start reducing yet coffee used to flourish even at 1,000 metres above sea level.

The higher you go, he says, the cooler it becomes and the longer it takes to ripen and make superior coffee.
"Quantity and quality is much lower in the low lying areas," he adds.

This means that the small holder farmers are losing out because they cannot shift with the coffee growing belt up the slopes of the mountain where the temperatures are still suitable for coffee.

"It is common to encounter coffee trees carrying coffee beans and flowers at the same time. At first some farmers thought it was an advantage, but it is a disadvantage," Baluku says.


“As you harvest you cause damage to the coffee trees. And if the trees have coffee beans and flowers at the same time, they are not given enough time to replenish. This is why coffee from mountainous areas is heavier and that from the lower areas is lighter,” Baluku adds.

The low lying areas of the Rwenzoris are also associated with high cases of malaria. Warm conditions have reached areas that used to be too cold for the mosquitoes to breed.

“We never used to have malaria in the mountains, but now malaria cases are higher than HIV in the region,” says Loyce Bwambale, a former woman MP for Kasese.

Tourism suffering too
Climate change is also hitting the tourism sector.

The three-horned chameleon has shifted to higher habitats because the areas the species used to live are now warmer and unsuitable for its survival, says Paul Isabirye, the head of the Climate Change Unit in Uganda.

The snowcapped mountains, which were a tourists’ favourite are fading and snow viewing could soon become history.
Tourists used to sit at Margareta Hotel and see the snow up there, but now they spend days in Kasese without seeing snow.

The snow layer has reduced from six square kilometres to less than one square kilometre in the last 100 years, according to researchers. In the dry season, it is not easy to get water because the snowcapped mountains that used to release melt are declining.

“The mountainous terrain is blessed because every valley has a river,” says Bwambale.

The main river, Mobuku, supports  hydro-electric power plants.

“The potential for the first power plant which was about 5MW has declined to less than half. It means less electricity, load shedding and yet industries need support,” Bwambale says.

Such change around Mt. Rwenzori is an early warning about the impact of climate change. Previous studies quoted in the National Adaptation Programme for Action show that a temperature increase of about two degrees Centigrade would reduce the coffee growing areas in Uganda to the higher slopes of mountains, Rwenzori and Elgon.

Former glory
Uganda used to be the largest producer of coffee in the Commonwealth and it is the second biggest producer in Africa after Ethiopia. After the invasion of coffee wilt and insurgency, most farmers abandoned the crop.

In the 1960s, Rwenzori used to produce 95,500 tonnes, declining to only 5,000 tonnes in 2004. Since there were no systems during the successive wars, pests and diseases multiplied.

Currently, there are only 7,480 hectares of land under coffee and the potential is still high.

“We want to push it to 8,000 hectares of land,” says Baluku.

As they do this, world leaders are meeting in Durban, South Africa to discuss how communities in places like Rwenzori can be assisted to live with climate change.

Climate change is caused by gases such as carbon-dioxide and methane forming a blanket around the earth which traps heat escaping from the earth.  

The two week-long meeting in Durban, which started on November 28, is also discussing how to reduce emissions that are behind the warming of the earth.

Whatever the outcome of the meeting, people like Baluku in Katabukenene, need immediate intervention to stop climate change from eroding the incomes created by coffee, the mountain’s lifeline.