Why the aroma of coffee is returning to farmers pockets

It is written all over the school books that coffee is the leading cash crop of Uganda. However, through the years, the crop has been affected by an array of challenges including the deadly Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD) that rendered nearly half of the old coffee trees dead.

Many farmers in the central region districts of Masaka, Luwero and Mubende cut down their trees because of the disease. According to Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) reports, Uganda`s coffee export volumes dropped to as low as two million bags in early 2000 from four million bags in 1996. 

However, there is now a reemergence of coffee growing across the major coffee growing regions in the country. This is largely courtesy of the introduction of varieties that can resist the Coffee Wilt Disease and an improvement in supervision by the UCDA.

Additionally, the government under Operation Wealth Creation is giving out millions of coffee seedlings to coffee farmers across the country.

Read about the re-emergence of coffee growing in Harvest Money tomorrow.