Poverty Series

For a long time coffee was a leading export for Uganda and it gave livelihood to thousands of families. There are stories that coffee farmers in Masaka would sell coffee and buy new vehicles. Indeed Coffee was a source of income and livelihood for thousands of Ugandans. In the current effort to address poverty, coffee is one of the areas that one would look at to give farmers more income however this is not about to happen. In article in the East African Business Week of January 20-26, Samuel Nabwiso narrates the challenge Uganda’s coffee sub sector is going through. He says that revenue from Coffee has problems of quality. We no longer produce high quality coffee. The other is quantity. Indeed he cites the case of Vietnam which 10 years back did not produce as a much coffee as Uganda did. In fact reports are that coffee is a new product in Vietnam. However today Vietnam exports 10-12 million tonnes while Uganda exports 2.5 to 3 million tonnes.

The challenges coffee farmers of Uganda face is continuing to use low level technology in production and drying. This means that productivity of coffee production is low in Uganda. There are also other challenges with coffee. Most of the coffee in Uganda has been left in the bushes and indeed many people have got rid of coffee plantations because of the low value it has. Agricultural production is a key area in removing production in Uganda but we must increase productivity and the quantity. In one of my earlier postings, I said that German which does not produce coffee exports more coffee than Uganda and indeed more than many developing countries. This is a problem of international trade barriers. Unless African countries are enabled to trade fairly, we cannot increase the level of jobs in the country. Indeed the level of jobs created of people gainfully employed is low as long as we cannot export. A big challenge for people in the coffee sector.

Quality mars Uganda coffee

Drying coffee on the ground instead of raised beds is one of the reasons Ugandan coffee is losing value

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Land fragmentation and the failure by many coffee farmers to maintain high standards, has hampered development of Uganda’s coffee sub –sector to better levels of prosperity. 

Recently the African Coffee Academy (ACA) organized a Quality Management System/ Sanitary and Phytosanitary training workshop for coffee exporters, processors and farmers during which this viewpoint was put across.

Jimmy Okello, the ACA Quality Analysis officer said the acreage of land under coffee production in Uganda is declining due to land fragmentation caused by population pressure. 

“Uganda as country has the capacity to produce enough coffee like other African countries, but the challenge is that land fragmentation in all the coffee growing regions in the country. Coffee farmers should stop dividing their lands into small plots this will enable the country to progress in coffee production,” he said. 

The objective of the training was to create awareness about international Sanitary and PhytoSanitary requirements and implications on the local coffee value chain actors.  Basically these requirements have to do with maintaining strict levels of cleanliness in all areas of the industry.

Another objective for the workshop was to build capacity of middlemen, millers and exporters to give effective feedback to coffee farmers and suppliers on the issues of QMS and SPS. 

Making some comparisons, Okello said 10 years ago, Uganda was performing better than countries like Vietnam. But today Vietnam has left Uganda behind in terms of Robusta coffee exports. He also highlighted that farmland in Vietnam has not been affected by land fragmentation as the case in Uganda.

According to the sector report on coffee issued by the agriculture ministry, Uganda’s coffee latest annual exports range between 2.5mt to 3mt. Vietnam currently exports 10mt to12mt.

Okello said many farmers are still using traditional methods in harvesting and drying coffee cherries.  This compromises the agreed provisions of the international market and formalized by the World Trade Organization ( WTO) PhytoSanitary requirements.

Okello explained that noncompliance with the WTO requirements will result in loss of market because of public health considerations.

To ensure that  the whole world  does not consume  food which is risky to the live of the humans animal and the Environment , WTO member countries set up  Sanitary or Phytosanitary( SPS measures  which  all intending exporters of agricultural related products should meet  to ensure food safety worldwide but  despite the existence of such standards which regulates the trade of food related items many countries like Uganda  has been sported as one of the countries which is not implementing some of the measure  and this may affects its  ability to sale agricultural related products on the international market 

“The success of any country’ s international food trade is largely depend on its domestic food trade sanitary and phytosanitary standards and practice are of vital to any food trade SPS measure have become vital due to food trade globalization. Thus for Uganda s domestic and international food trade to be successful, her SPS practices have to be implemented  so as to produce quality and safe food to the market place,” he said. 

Presenting a paper on Coffee Quality Management System for coffee exporters in Uganda the Executive Director of the Coffee Academy Godfrey Batte  said coffee, like other food items, must be handled with quality and standards in mind  throughout the value chain.

 “On occasion, our coffee has been getting contaminated by hazards like biological,  physical ,chemicals and environmental , especially during storage transportation and even during handling our value chain players in the coffee sub- sector should take serious precautions when handling coffee as it is the only to maintain the quality standard of Uganda coffee,” he said. 

To limit those aspects that hurt the local coffee industry, Batte advised the sector players  to use the integrated pests management approach  and adopt proper drying methods like using raised beds. He said this will lower the chances of the country’s cash crop from getting contaminated and losing international market share.