By Moses Kigongo
Coffee, which is currently the second leading foreign exchange earner export for Uganda after gold, has potential to generate so much billions of dollars than what the country is currently getting.
The experts New Vision has talked to believe that as the country plans to add value to her coffee before it is exported, government and other stakeholders need to undertake aggressive interventions to boost the volume of coffee produced.
Uganda, which is the second leading coffee producer in Africa after Ethiopia, currently exports only six million bags of coffee, which is very low compared to the potential of the country if largescale farming is undertaken.
Brazil, which has so much largescale farming of coffee, is exporting over 60 million bags of coffee.
Henry Muguzi, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Economic Monitoring, said: “There is no country on the face of earth with more agricultural potential than Uganda with all the water bodies, good soil and good climate. There is no reason why Brazil should be exporting over 60 million bags of coffee and Uganda is exporting only 6 million. It means our government has not done enough to boost production levels. Even the commitment government had earlier made to allocate sh50b for free coffee seedlings was abandoned, yet it had enormous potential to boost production levels.”
During the international conference Uganda hosted this week, President Yoweri Museveni expressed concern that out of the global market value for coffee of $460b, all coffee producing countries in the world get only $25b, Africa gets only $2.4b and Uganda gets only $845m.
It is upon that background that Museveni argued that with value addition to Uganda’s coffee (processing), the country can earn much more than it is earning currently.
From the sidelines of the 2ndG-25 Africa Coffee summit, some of the delegates from the coffee sector and experts from the agriculture ministry gave their opinions on what they think Uganda can do to earn more dollars from her coffee exports.
Major Gen. David Kasura, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, said: “Value addition should be at the centre of all our initiatives if we are to increase our forex earnings, as the President said while launching the 2nd G-25 coffee summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo on Tuesday.”
Gen. Kasura pointed out other necessary interventions including good agronomical practices such as planting the right coffee seedlings and taking good care of the coffee trees.
“Ugandans, especially politicians should also support some of the government programmes like the Parish Development Model which seeks to address the plight of the 39% poverty-stricken Ugandans in the subsistence economy,” he added.
Gen. Kasura added that to boost earnings from coffee, the Government is mainly focusing on three main interventions which include: Increasing volumes of production and productivity (through encouraging farmers to form farmers groups), quality of products (through a number of interventions, such as trainings offered to various players in the coffee value chain) and adherence to standards (by emphasising sanitary and phytosanitary standards).
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Geraldine Ssali, said: “More investment is needed in coffee to facilitate its progress and enable the country to earn more from its coffee exports. The coffee sub-sector still needs the support of the Government to secure funds for procuring some of the equipment needed in the process of value addition, like coffee roasting equipment, which are capital intensive since most of its members do not have the financial muscle to do it alone. Therefore, this is one of the areas where more funding is needed in order to earn more dollars from our coffee exports.”
Muhammad Kanyike, an agricultural officer from Rakai district, suggested the need for government to ensure more good quality coffee seedlings and other farm inputs are availed to farmers, power costs are reduced to support value addition, affordable credit availed to investors and extension workers facilitated to guide farmers on the best farming practices.
The state minister for agriculture, Fred Bwino Kyakulaga, said: “The Government has already established an enabling environment and strategies to promote coffee research, good coffee farming practices and value addition. It is up to the players in the coffee value chain to take advantage of such opportunities.”
The minister also suggested the need for all stakeholders to help government in implementing the coffee roadmap which was launched by the President in 2017 to increase coffee production from 3.5 million bags to 20 million bags by 2030.
National Coffee Research Institute suggestions
Dr Geoffrey Arinaitwe, the Director, National Coffee Research Institute, Uganda, said: “Research is one of the factors that need to be considered if the country is to increase its coffee export earnings from the global coffee value where it is lately earning $845m.”
He noted that it is through research that all the interventions and initiatives by both the Government and coffee value chain players will follow in order to enable the country earn more dollars from its export earnings.
He gave an example of some of the new coffee varieties, as well as drought and pest-resistant coffee plants, that have subsequently increased production and productivity in the country, thereby increasing coffee export earnings.
Arinaitwe pointed out many other necessary interventions, including the need to trade in high quality beans.
“This can be achieved by trading about 60%, then roast about 30% and 10% as soluble, out of the current coffee that we export. Farmers need to be guided to plant drought and disease-resistant high yield coffee in order to double the country’s export earnings. Application of fertilisers and irrigation can also greatly boost the country’s earnings,” he said.
Additional reporting by Titus Kakembo
