Kasese coffee farmers embrace modern practices

Jul 15, 2019

Currently, Kyagulanyi Coffee Limited has 22 buying centres supplied by more than 2,000 farmers from different parts of Kasese.

A woman removes particles from the coffee cherries. Photo by Titus Kakembo      

With Uganda targeting to export 20 million bags of coffee by 2020, the agriculture ministry, Kyagulanyi Coffee Limited (KCL) and aBi Trust are partnering to improve production and quality by sensitising farmers through a support programme in Kasese. 

The results have been improving livelihoods of small-holder farmers through increased yields and quality control.

Currently, KCL has 22 buying centres supplied by more than 2,000 farmers from different parts of Kasese. Equipped with modern machinery to process the cherries, the products are exported to the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan and Australia. The berries are washed thoroughly, sorted and winnowed by a team of hawk-eyed women before being fried. 

"Stumping and application of fertilisers are tremendously boosting the volume of coffee cherries harvested, earning the benefactors in the country sh27.3b extra income," revealed the KCL spokesperson Evan Arinaitwe.

"Every stumped tree has been producing 6kg - 12kg of cherries from the initial grams harvested," Arinaitwe said.

An AgriVolve field officer Morris Sigowa says they expect more than 600 tonnes harvested in the coming season. The tradition of drying coffee on the ground is now history with farmers now being availed tarpaulin.

"We are discouraging the coffee being strip-picked because such coffee is sold for a fraction of its potential value to middlemen," Sigowa said. 

The bulk is often inferior, of low grade and embedded with foreign materials. This low quality affects the price according to Sigowa.

"The practice of mulching, digging trenches to control soil erosion and intercropping are being encouraged. That way there is food and cash to sustain the farmer's lives," Sigowa added.

One of the soil testing beneficiaries Sekatowa Makasi, 56, who belongs to Kirongo Born-Again Agricultural Group, says his cherries are bigger and he wants to make his entire garden of five acres young again.

"After applying the fertilisers I am seeing bigger cherries and the trees yield more than three kilogrammes," Makasi said. 

"I expect a lot more from my five acres of land than what I have been getting. Jabba provides me a fungicide to control the leafing blighting and required fertilisers," Makasi added.

 

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