EU, Gates foundation boost coffee farmers

May 20, 2010

OVER 35,000 small holder coffee farmers have received a grant of $6m (about sh12.6b) to develop a coffee project that will improve their livelihoods.

By Godfrey Kimono

OVER 35,000 small holder coffee farmers have received a grant of $6m (about sh12.6b) to develop a coffee project that will improve their livelihoods.

The grant, provided through the Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) Foundation, is from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($4m) and the European Union ($2m), in a partnership with the US Agency for International Development and the Danish International Development Agency.

Dana Boggess, the agricultural development officer at the Gates Foundation, said the project aimed at empowering coffee farmers raise income and become economically self-reliant.

“The project will be the largest coffee project in Uganda and the largest robusta producer in the world, after introducing the strong coffee-wilt resistant variety,” Bogges said.

She was speaking during the launch of the project at the Serena Kampala hotel on Wednesday.

Bogges disclosed that the grant was part of the foundation’s agricultural development initiative to help small farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia boost yields to increase their income.

“The foundation is working to strengthen the entire agricultural value-chain from seeds, farm management to market access so that progress against hunger and poverty can be overrun in a sustainable manner over a long term,” Bogges said.

The project intends to strengthen the Coffee Farmers Alliance Uganda by supporting coffee farmers develop their farm management skills, agricultural practices and tools through comprehensive training.

Michael Opitz, the chairman board of directors of Stiftung Foundation, said the organisation aimed at empowering the beneficiaries’ ability to develop their entrepreneurial skills by improving key elements in small-scale farmer operations.

“We were motivated to apply for a grant from the Gates Foundation to develop their concept and reach out to a larger number of farmers and their families in further production areas of the country,” Opitz said.

Stefan Cognigni, the general manager of the Stiftung Foundation, said the project will be supported by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and will last for four years.

It started last year in November and follows a success model realised in 2005 in Mityana and Mubende which benefited 15,000 farmers.

Henry Ngabirano the managing director of UCDA, said Uganda earns $291 from coffee exports with a total of 3.5 million bags being exported.

Uganda is ranked the fourth-best robusta coffee producing country in the world and is the second largest coffee producer in Africa

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