Gordon Katwirenabo, the UCDA Quality Assurance Manager critically looking at the coffee seeds during a visit in Acholi sub region. Photos by Walter Okot
By Walter Okot
Gulu
More farmers in Acholi sub-region are growing coffee as one of the cash crops.
In the early 1900s, the colonial government segmented the country into agro-ecological zones with each specializing in a certain cash crop considered fit for its soil.
Acholi sub-region specialized in growing cotton, while West Nile concentrated on tobacco, and Central Uganda was a coffee-growing region.
However, in 1997, coffee was introduced in the Acholi sub-region as an alternative perennial crop to cotton to fight rampant household poverty.
However, the crop failed due to the farmers’ perception instilled by colonialists that the crop can’t grow in northern Uganda.
In 2013, under the Operation Wealth Creation, President Yoweri Museveni reintroduced the perennial crop in Acholi to improve livelihood and increase wealth.
Michael Okot, a representative of coffee farmers in the Acholi sub-region said there are already more than 4,000 registered coffee farmers in the sub-region.
Okot revealed that they have already distributed 74,000 seedlings to 1,356 coffee farmers in Gulu, Lamwo, Nwoya, Omoro, Pader, and Kitgum districts, which have been planted on 87, 282 acres.
Demand for irrigation schemes
He, however, said prolonged dry spells, roaming animals, and wildfires are affecting the growing of coffee, and requested local governments to pass a bylaw against setting wildfires and leaving animals to roam during dry season.
Michael Odong, chairperson of coffee farmers in Wii Lac Village, Paidongo parish in Bobi sub-county, Omoro district, said they started coffee growing in 2023, after they got 40,000 coffee seedlings and planted on 40 acres of land individually and as a group.
This year, the group targets to plant 50 acres of coffee and requested more coffee seedlings, banana suckers, and fruit tree seedlings.
Odong also appealed to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to provide them with a soft loan to buy irrigation pumps, pesticides, and herbicides.
William Pike Ongaba, a coffee farmer in Oluba village, in Ongako sub-county in Omoro district, said he started growing coffee in 2014 on 10 acres after retiring from work.
In 2023, Ongaba harvested 5.5 tons of coffee and earned shs18m. This year, Ongaba hopes to get over shs30m.
Ongaba, a former extension staff at UCDA, however, fears that his flowering coffee trees may abort due to the dry spell. He requested UCDA to help him with an irrigation pump.
Land for regional laboratory
Vicky Atim, the vice chairperson Gulu district, revealed that they have donated 2 acres of land to UCDA to construct a regional coffee laboratory in Awach Town Council.
“As Gulu district, we pledge to work with UCDA to promote coffee growing in Gulu district to support farmers switch from subsistence to commercial agriculture,” Atim remarked.
Gordon Katwirenabo, the UCDA Quality Assurance Manager, said the laboratory will be the regional coffee analytical and testing certification laboratory for coffee farmers in northern Uganda.
Uganda has only three coffee laboratories in Jinja, Busenyi, and the national laboratory in Lugogo in Kampala Capital City.
Katwirenabo said UCDA is constructing another one in Kasese, and plans to set up another in Mbale to serve farmers in the Eastern region.
“The regional laboratory will act as a training Centre for coffee farmers, enhance service deliveries, and reduce the cost and time of going to Lugogo National Laboratory for analysis,” Katwirenabo said.
Katwirenabo said they already have an approved plan for the laboratory, and construction will start in the next financial year if the government releases the money.
UCDA’s interventions
Dr. Gerald Kyalo, the Director of Development Services at UCDA says farmers are being supported with seedlings to reach the target of increasing coffee production to 20 million bags by 2025 as per the Coffee Roadmap.
Kyalo said they have invested shs8.03b to fund coffee interventions in 29 districts in northern Uganda in the past five years.
The interventions include; the distribution of coffee seedlings, banana suckers, shade trees and seeds of cover crops, wet mills, and training among others.
“The interventions in the north are a strategic direction to expand coffee growing to new areas as per the national Coffee Roadmap,” he said.
Kyalo explained that from the financial year 2018/2019 to 2022/2023, they have distributed over 868,000 coffee wilt disease-resistant seedlings, over 27.9 million elite Robusta seedlings, over 22.4 million Arabica coffee seedlings, and 21 metric tons of seeds to farmers.
He said they have also certified 258 coffee nurseries and established 263 technology demonstration sites in northern Uganda that supply coffee farmers in northern Uganda.
Jackson Lakor, the Gulu District Production Officer, said they have 1,471 coffee farmers who produced 452 metric tons of coffee in 2023.
Dr. Emmanuel Lyamulemye Niyibigira, Managing Director of UCDA said they are committed to supporting coffee farmers in northern Uganda.
“It is only in northern Uganda where we can expand coffee growing in Uganda because they have big unutilized land,” Niyibigira said.
Dr. Charles Francis Mugoya, a board chairman of UCDA said they will support farmers in accessing financial services to borrow low-interest loans.
Mugoya requested the farmers to form or join cooperative societies so that supporting them is easy.
