The government through the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) is mooting plans to turn coffee growing and its production fashionable to attract the youths from Northern Uganda.
The plans stem from reports that the youth who form about 22.7 percent of the country’s population and workforce as of the latest 2024 Census report doesn’t want to be part of the coffee growing initiative.
Since 2012 government has been promoting coffee growing in the Northern region but the majority of the youths haven’t embraced the idea leaving only the old to provide the labour in the coffee sector.
Sylvia Owori, the Director of Operations at Operation Wealth Creation told stakeholders in Gulu City last week that the availability of the young growing workforce is key in driving the coffee economy in Northern Uganda.
“We are going to make coffee growing and coffee production fashionable so that we get the youth to get involved. That’s why we are stationed here in northern Uganda to make that happen,” she said during the international Coffee Day celebration held in Gulu City.
According to Owori, one of the strategies already taken by OWC is the engagement of those in the creative art industry in the region to aid in the mobilization of the youth to support the transformation agenda of driving the coffee economy.
“So, I’m going to mobilize the creative industry in northern Uganda so that they can support the transformation. We are going to start discussing how we as creative are going to support and drive the coffee economy of northern Uganda,” said Owori.
According to the National Labour Force Survey 2021 undertaken by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), the youth population was estimated at 9.3 million (22 percent of the total population). The report indicates among the youth aged 18 to 30 years in 2021, 37 percent were in employment and 41 percent were in neither employment nor Education and almost all employed youth (9 in 10) were in informal employment excluding agriculture.
Gen Caleb Akandwanaho aka Slim Saleh, the Chief Coordinator OWC, in a message read by Owori, noted that the development of northern Uganda’s coffee sector holds significant potential for transforming the region’s economy.
Gen Saleh said that the sector can contribute to the creation of jobs and promote sustainable agriculture by capitalizing on the unique soil profiles, climate adaptability, and affordable land.
According to Saleh, Northern Uganda can emerge as a new frontier for coffee production but strategic interventions in research, infrastructure, organic farming, and youth engagement will be crucial in unlocking the potential.
“Coffee from northern Uganda has the highest market potential because of its quality and can be marked as a premium product, fetching higher prices in the niche markets of Europe because it’s organic,” he said.
Over the weekend, officials from OWC led by Owori, accompanied by Maj Gen Philip Idro, the Special Advisor for OWC, and David Pulkol, the Principal Advisor for Operation Wealth Creation met with a section of members from the creative arts industry in Gulu.
Paul Mutanga, an entrepreneur however during the meeting, noted that while OWC has made efforts to bring on board creative arts in promoting transformational agenda, some of the funding hasn’t reached artists in Acholi.
“It’s very painful to know that the good general (Salim Saleh) gave to the art industry 13 billion shillings but not less than 1 million shillings was given to the artists in Northern Uganda,” said Mutanga.
In Northern Uganda currently, a total of 127,184 households are participating in growing coffee according to data from Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA). Annually, the farmers are producing 962,278 60kg bags of coffee beans.
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