By Vision Reporter
The price of Robusta coffee has inched up, trading at sh6,700 per kg compared to sh5,600 a month ago in Ibanda town.
The beans are buoyed by increasing demand and good out-turn as the crop’s harvest season stabilises, traders and farmers say. At the onset of the harvest season the coffee is usually of poor quality with low out-turn.
David Kiiza, a farmer and the chairperson of Kashangura Coffee Co-operative, attributes the increase to quality coffee coming to the market, adding that farmers were observing the recommended agronomical practices and standards along the value chain.
Arabica coffee ranged from sh8,000 to sh8,500, in Kashanguira down from about sh9,000 over the reporting period. However, it is up at sh9,000 in Ibanda town compared to sh8,500 previously.
Deogratias Tihwayo, a coffee buyer in Ibanda town, said the Robusta coffee harvest season was in full gear, with farmers bringing coffee with good out-turn, which is attracting more buyers and hence pushing up prices.
Kiiza and Tihwayo project the prices to rise further in March and April when the harvest season nears peak. Arabica coffee hit a record high of sh12,000 a kilo last season, with robusta inching toward the sh7,000 mark..
Ibanda is one of the key coffee producing areas in the Ankole sub-region. Coffee growing is one of the main enterprises that the district is promoting to help fight poverty and spur household incomes. The others are dairy farming, banana growing, and piggery.
