A farmer closely looking at the coffee beans in Amuru district. Photo by Arnest Tumwesige
By Simon Wokorach
Gulu: Gulu district has offered 2 acres of land within the headquarters to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to establish a shs7.5b coffee laboratory.
A coffee laboratory is a machine designed to offer different degrees of testing detail. The machine can serve several functions such as testing, preparation, and cupping.
In January 2024, officials of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), during their visit to Lira to monitor how coffee growing is doing in the region announced that they would establish a coffee laboratory in Gulu in the next five years.
The coffee laboratory is meant to conduct quality assurance tests on coffee and training of coffee farmers to boost coffee production and processing.
Christopher Opiyo Ateker, the chairperson of Gulu district, explained that the district has already offered 2 acres of land to UCDA for establishing the facility, to support the shift from subsistence farming to cash crop growing in the region.
Ateker is optimistic that embracing the growing of cash crops such as coffee will mitigate the abject poverty entrenched in the rural populations.
“We think that this will contribute to the poverty reduction in the region as you know the statistics put us as the second poorest region in the Country. It’s sad but we need to work hard,” Ateker said.
Alfred Okwir, the officer in charge of the Laboratory at UCDA confirmed the development but declined to provide many details of the project.
“I don’t want to commit myself to discuss this with you when we haven’t officially been handed over the land. Yes, the district has informed us, but the land question isn’t official,” Okwir responded.
Okwir, however, explained that if Gulu delays officially addressing the land question, UCDA will be forced to look for land elsewhere within the region for the same project.
“We need to sort out the issue of coffee quality in the region but when the district delays, we shall get land elsewhere and the project won’t come to Gulu,” he added.
He said the facility which will process, add value, and control quality, is expected to serve coffee farmers in northern Uganda including Karamoja and West Nile.
Thomas Okello, a coffee farmer from Tee-Opok Parish in Lakwana Sub County Omoro district, is hopeful that the facility will address gaps in the coffee production from the region.
Okello noted that coffee farmers are still ignorant of the management practices regarding coffee plantations, like when droughts hit and the coffee flower begins to wither and fall off.
The farmer further explained that farmers are facing shortage of seedlings, citing that only 20 out of 30 coffee farmers in his parish who wanted coffee seedlings in 2023, failed to get them.
Although Okello said the selected farmers were supported under the parish development model, he noted that the delivery had not been adequate leaving out several farmers who could not afford to buy their seedlings.
Farmers advised on coffee production
Winfred Oyella, the Northern Uganda Regional Coffee Officer at UDCA, advised coffee farmers on early planting to save the plants from being affected by drought.
According to Oyella, when coffee is planted early in the first season, their survival rate stands at 90 percent, unlike in the second season where their survival rate only stands at 60% to 70%.
She also advised coffee farmers against planting premature coffee seedlings, adding that the best coffee seedlings are those that have been in the nursery bed for a year.
Intercropping to save coffee flowers
Oyella advised farmers to practice intercropping so that their coffee flowers are not aborted during drought.
In an acre of coffee plantation, she said at least 112 banana plants have to be planted to provide shade to the coffee trees.
Farmers to get seedlings under PDM
As farmers complain of inadequate seedlings, Oyella revealed that the government has shifted the mandate for the distribution of the seedlings from UCDA, and will now be handled under the Parish Development Model (PDM).
She asked the coffee farmers to form an enterprise group within their parishes where they could be supported with the seedlings, depending on their demand.
Oyella revealed that UCDA had a stakeholder meeting with the government to see whether UCDA will resume distribution of seedlings, but they are yet to be given feedback.
“At the moment, all farmers have to form groups in their parishes from where the support will reach them,” she said.
