Gov’t Moves To Tap Into Northern Uganda’s Huge Potential To Produce More Coffee

Denis Okello, a farmer in Northern Uganda, is earning big from coffee farming

Coffee stakeholders in Northern Uganda on Wednesday endorsed the Gulu Resolutions on coffee. The resolutions, aimed at increasing production, will be sent to the President for action.

Speaking at the coffee stakeholder engagement in Gulu, the Chief Coordinator for Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Gen. Rtd. Salim Saleh alias Caleb Akandwanaho emphasized that if the people demonstrate readiness to plant coffee, they will receive support from Government.

He commended the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and its partners for organizing the engagement.

While closing the coffee stakeholder engagement in Gulu, Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, the State Minister for Agriculture, pledged to actively follow up on the Gulu Resolutions. He added that despite government’s policy shift ( from distributing free coffee planting materials), Northern Uganda deserves special consideration in coffee production.

In a post on X later on Wednesday night, the Minister added that Northern Uganda has a huge potential to produce more coffee.

“The enthusiasm shown by stakeholders signifies their quest to improve household incomes,” Bwino added.

UCDA has a programme to promote coffee growing in Northern Uganda. The programme is part of the initiatives introduced by the Authority to increase coffee production to 20 million bags by 2030, as per the Coffee Roadmap. Once achieved, the country will earn up to USD 2.2 billion per year through exports.

Research shows that there is growing evidence in the region that the systematic coffee planting by the UCDA has yielded positive results in the sub-region. A 2014 research titled: Coffee Production in mid-Northern Uganda: Prospects and Challenges” indicates that on average, there are 16,000 farmers with 10,045 hectares of coffee, and in 2013 coffee output was 154 metric tons and projected to increase to 16,323 metric tons by 2017 with start of harvesting of new planted trees. Apac, Lira, Nwoya and Oyam are among the districts with the highest potential for coffee production. Despite the faster adoption of coffee in the region, there are challenges that need to be addressed if the UCDA’s objectives are to be realized. The major challenges relate to lack of organized marketing and processing infrastructure to support value addition; and inadequate coffee specialized extension support system to narrow the knowledge gap about recommended agronomic practices among farmers.