OWC/NAADS push coffee to seven million bags

INDEPENDENCE  | AGRICULTURE





If there is a cash crop that has sustained its aroma for many years, then that is coffee. The cash crop remains Uganda's leading export earner, with very little notable drop in prices. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Government had coffee firmly on the radar.

Since 2016, the Government has been increasing funding to the sub-sector in order to make it better. Coffee is also one of the 14 key enterprises that the Government is further commercialising.

"The increase is in support of the Government plan to increase coffee exports to 20 million bags," agriculture minister Vincent Ssempijja says.

Initially, the 20 million bag target was set by this year. However, it has since been pushed to 2025.


HISTORY OF COFFEE IN UGANDA

According to the Uganda Coffee Federation (UCF), while Arabica coffee was introduced in the early 1900s. Robusta coffee is indigenous to Uganda and has been part of Ugandan life for centuries. However, coffee was not declared a cash crop until about 1920.

The variety of wild Robusta coffee still grows in Uganda's rain forests like in Budongo and is thought to be one of the rarest examples of naturally occurring coffee trees anywhere in the world. In fact, according to UCDA, the wild Robusta trees have survived the wilt, compared to the domesticated varieties.




Incidentally, precolonial Ugandans already knew about this wild coffee and were consuming it in different forms, including by drying and roasting it to create what today are known as emwanyi empogola.

"When the colonialists realised that Uganda had good potential for coffee growing, they turned it into one of the major cash crops," Mefiasi Musisi, who worked with the Co-operative Union in the 1970s and 1980s, says.

They moved and spread it among farming communities, with areas like Masaka, Luwero, Mityana, Mukono, Bundibugyo (Arabica) Mbale (Arabica) and Bushenyi taking the main consideration.

"At the moment, coffee is grown in 93 or more districts of Uganda and is by far the most produced cash crop in the country," Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) executive director Emmanuel Iyamulemye says.

As the colonialists made more money from exporting coffee, it became mandatory for farmers to grow it.

"The bazungu even instituted chiefs whose role was to cane and punish all those who failed to grow coffee," Ssebagala says. This is why coffee was christened emwanyi za kibooko.


STATUS OF THE SECTOR

Iyamulemye says the coffee industry is best placed to grow fast because all the ingredients for growth are in place.

"I do not recall a time when the Government (Cabinet and Parliament), development partners, farmers and other coffee value chain players ever showed as much enthusiasm to expand coffee production and productivity as they have done in the last five years," he says.




The market as another ingredient for growth is very optimistic and positive. The global coffee consumption has for the past five decades been growing at a rate of more than 2% per year and it is projected that by 2030, the market will require an additional 50 million bags. The Government decided to increase coffee exports by increasing its production and productivity through accelerated planting and rejuvenation of the existing coffee trees. This strategy is being implemented through the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme.

"Our plan is to have as many as 900 million new trees planted by the end of this year," lyamulemye says.


IMPORTANCE OF COFFEE

Coffee offers both economic and social importance for Uganda.

Coffee supports the livelihood of about eight million people — considering 1.7 million households are involved in the production and others along the value chain — and it is the biggest foreign exchange earner in the visible exports. The coffee economy is more sustainable and reliable than other crops.


COFFEE PRODUCTION TRENDS

Coffee production has been on the upward trend reaching 4.3 million bags of 60kgs each in 2016 and 5.6 million bags in 2018 and seven million bags this year. This is an increase of over 2.7 million bags since 2016. Coffee farming has now been taken on by the elite who had always shunned it and the number of big coffee farms is increasing.




"If we are talking about seven million bags at the moment, then you see a positive trend," President Museveni said during the budget reading on June 11.

The government target, picked from the second National Development Plan (NDPII) was to have 20 million bags exported, increase acreage of coffee and then rehabilitate old shambas.

NDP III then calls for an increase in large scale coffee farmers, since 53% of coffee is currently produced by small scale farmers, using rudimentary methods.

However, if the target is to have 20 million bags by 2025 and a further 30 million in 2040, the trend should be moving much faster. For example, if four million bags have been added in the last 10 years, then one would expect another four million bags in the next 10 years.

Lyamulemye says there are other factors today like the Government's mass distribution of seedlings which will enhance growth.

"The seedlings that have been distributed between 2015 and 2018 will be yielding by 2020/21. Obviously production will increase," he says.

The number of farmers involved in generation of coffee seedlings has grown to more than 2,000 nursery operators with the capacity to produce 300 million seedlings per year. The 2019/20 and the 2020/21 budget targets giving out over 300 million more coffee seedlings. The private sector has developed the capacity to generate coffee seedlings through modern bio technology such as tissue culture in which three laboratories are involved in the seed generation process.

Through further research, the average number of trees per acre are planned to be raised from the 450 at the moment to around 900 by the end of this year.

"Some of the leading coffee growing countries are doing it and yielding much higher than us," Mathias Kasamba, a coffee farmer and farmer's trainer, says.

This will obviously increase yields per acre. Kasamba adds that this can only be achieved if among others, farmers use fertilisers and improved seedlings.

"If farmers use fertilisers, then they can plant more seedlings per acre," he says.

"We have got one comparative advantage that we are the only country that produces both Robusta (a low land coffee variety) and Arabica (the high land variety) in large quantities," Iyamulemye says.




He adds that 80% of the coffee here is Robusta, while 20% is Arabica. While Robusta is grown across most of the low lands, Arabica is mainly grown around Mt Elgon, Mt Rwenzori and Zombo district in West Nile. Uganda has the biggest Robusta estate in Africa located in Mubende, with over 1,200acres.

Iyamulemye says other 100-300 acre farms have been established in the country. The Government's effort in funding research and seed generation is showing positive results.


PROMOTE LOCAL CONSUMPTION

Gerald Katabazi, the owner of Volcano Coffee, says rather than focus on the export market only, the Government must also deliberately target the local market.

Katabazi has a roaster, an oven for roasting, a coffee dispenser and several other equipment that make a fairly modern coffee shop. He says the average cost of all his equipment is nearly sh100m.

"We have over 17 coffee roasters and grinders," he says.

There are at least 20 Ugandan coffee brands on the shelves. The domestic coffee consumption, according to UCDA, is less than 6% of the crop produced in the country, including the one exported and brought back to Uganda (imports) after processing it.

Katabazi feels that more youth should be encouraged to at least engage in roasting and grinding of coffee. However, Katabazi says cheaper roasting and grinding equipment can be fabricated by local artisans if they are properly guided.

He adds that efforts should also be made to encourage young people to engage in coffee value addition.

"Young people like being called baristas. If we get this equipment cheaply, then young investors can easily engage in coffee business," he says.

With young people on board, visibility obviously increases and local consumption goes up too.




"Our coffee per capita consumption per year is now over 0.36kgs. We need to raise it to 0.5kgs in the next five years and even more," Katabazi says.

He adds that in order to attract Ugandans to drink coffee, roasters must create a Ugandan coffee drink.

"The taste and ‘hardness' of the drink depends on the roasting. My experience is that Ugandans do not want the ‘bitter' coffee which is consumed in Ethiopia or Europe.

We have to prepare a mild coffee drink," he says.

He, however, adds that this can only be achieved if the coffee baristas are trained.


GOOD MONEY

With the machinery set, a kilogramme of shelled coffee beans costs sh5,000. It costs sh2,500 to roast 1kg, which brings the cost to sh7,500.

On the open market, a kilogramme of roasted and ground coffee cost between sh40,000 to sh60,000 depending on the brand. Across most specialty coffee shops, a cup of ground coffee goes for between sh5,000 and sh10,000.

Katabazi says a kilogramme of ground coffee can spice 100 cups of coffee. With the average cost of a cup of coffee at sh5,000, that gives you sh500,000.