Coffee Uganda Views
The weather hasn't been favourable in central and eastern Uganda and, it particularly, affected robusta growing areas, said a source at the state-run UCDA. Beans require good rains in their early stages for good formation and development and these two regions didn't have sufficient rains, reducing yields. The two regions account for 55% of Uganda's annual coffee yield, while south and western Uganda contribute the remainder.
This short film documents Gumutindo Coffee Co-opertive in East Uganda. The coffee farms of Gumutindo members are located in the Mbale district of eastern Uganda on the lower slopes of Mount Elgon, Uganda's highest mountain at an elevation of 4,321 metres (14,200 feet), and about 90km from the border with Kenya.
The Ugandan coffee industry is facing some serious challenges, including low international prices in the international coffee market, aging coffee trees and declining productivity, and, more recently, the appearance of coffee-wilt disease, which have all contributed to the decline in both the quantity and value of coffee exports.
The government of Uganda, through the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), in 1993/94 started a coffee-replanting program to both replace coffee trees that were old or affected by coffee-wilt and expand coffee production into other suitable areas in northern and eastern Uganda. This program seems to be helping to both combat the industrye’s problems and reverse the declining trends. However, the UCDA announced in 2004 that it was withdrawing from the replanting program in the 2004/05 season (it had supported nursery operators and purchased and distributed free seedlings to farmers), so the programo’s achievements may not last.
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