By Vision Reporter
Winfred Janny Oyella is set to travel to the Netherlands, having emerged the best farmer in Northern Uganda in the vision Group Best Farmer Competition.
According to fellow coffee farmers, for over 20 years, Oyella has been a major actor in the development of the coffee industry across northern Uganda. At (UCDA) she worked as regional manager, Northern Uganda. Fourtenn-years-ago, she also became a coffee farmer.
“I started coffee farming in 2010 after 12 years of interacting with coffee farming communities in Acholi, West Nile and Lango sub-region,” she says.
About 20 years ago, Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) introduced commercial production of the crop in the non-traditional growing areas. These included mid-northern Uganda districts of Apac, Gulu, Kitgum, Lira, Pader, Oyam, Amolatar, Dokolo and Amuru.
Despite scepticism from farmers at the start, some persisted and embraced coffee farming. Today, they are reaping the rewards. The reluctance to grow coffee in northern Uganda was due to the fact that there were no farmers growing the cash crop there.
“As a young adult, my major interest was to achieve mindset change of the farming communities towards growing coffee, which I successfully achieved,” she says. Today, districts like Omoro, Gulu and Kitgum have significant numbers of coffee farmers.
On a personal note, she considered coffee as a pension crop when she retires from active service. Thus, she has 17 acres of coffee in two locations.
Her coffee farming crusade is already bearing fruit. According to the 2023/24 UCDA report, Acholi region produced 284,725 bags, each weighing 60kg compared to barely 100,000 bags 10 years ago. Omoro district was also listed among the top 30 districts with the highest coffee production out of over 70 coffee producing districts.
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This is the ninth year running that Vision Group, together with the Embassy of the Netherlands, KLM Airlines, dfcu Bank and Koudijs Animal Nutrition, are running the Best Farmers competition. The 2024 competition run from March to November, culminating in today’s awards ceremony.
LEAD PHOTO CAPTION: Winfred Janny Oyella receiving her award. Photo by Moses Nsubuga
