Coffee boom in the eyes of Buganda Kingdom

Coffee, a long-cherished perennial crop, has for decades been the backbone of household incomes in some parts of Uganda. Today, coffee is at the centre of regulatory policies and renewed campaigns targeting both sustainable production and output.
The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the agency charged with monitoring the coffee value chain in Uganda, has in the past two years posted results indicating increased coffee production across the country.
The coffee exports between September 2023 and August 2024 stood at 6.39 million of 60kg bags, valued at $1.35b.
Emmwanyi Terimba drive
In Central Uganda where the Robusta Coffee variety is the top income earner, Buganda Kingdom under the Emmwanyi Terimba [coffee is a sure deal] campaign is partly credited for the increased coffee production, where the acreage has more than doubled in the past five years.
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Hajj Amiisi Kakomo, the Buganda Kingdom minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives, says the Emmwanyi Terimba campaign is not only about increased production but also focuses on quality coffee gardens, upgrading of farming practices and ensuring coffee is also consumed by the farmers.
Workers offload robusta coffee to be taken to a processing unit at on May 20, 2024. PHOTO/
The Central region is known for the Robusta coffee variety that is favoured by the region’s lower altitude climate and has seen increase in production. Buganda Kingdom partly attributes the increased coffee production to the kingdom’s robust campaign for both quality and quantity. “The Emmwanyi Terimba campaign championed by Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga is paying off. The coffee boom is about the farmers that have paid heed to the renewed campaign and looked after their gardens well to get a good yield. We are moving away from the traditional to modern farming practices that encourage mechanization,” he told Monitor.
Buganda Kingdom is already aware of the increased volumes in production for areas that have realised the importance of the coffee crop. The Greater Masaka region and Bukomansimbi District in particular is a beneficiary of the coffee boom. Hajj Kakomo says efforts are underway to rally the farmers to incorporate modern farming practices that call for mechanised agricultural practices for sustainability and improved output.
The effects of climate change dictate that the farmers adapt to modern irrigation practices to sustain the coffee production. “Because the farmers are getting wealthier from the coffee crop, we are now advising them to maintain the coffee quality and sell to only approved coffee buyers through the different cooperative societies and certified coffee dealers. The farmers must also learn some financial literacy,” he says.
Hajj Kakomo advises that while the farmer is free to spend all the money earned from the garden, effective planning and investment for the future adds value to their improved livelihood. “We are telling our farmers to professionalise the farming sector and know that the garden is their best employer. Spare 30 percent of the income for home basics, invest 30 percent and save at least 40 percent of the coffee proceeds. It is not bad for a farmer to build a nice house and possibly own a car,” he says.
Hajj Kakomo adds: “Farmers should also learn to drink coffee, mechanised farming, form groups and cooperatives as an easier way of acquiring the farm machines.”
Fear of EU regulations
Buganda Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga, who has championed the Emmwanyi Terimba campaign since 2016 to enhance the quantity and quality of the coffee crop, says coffee is Buganda’s ‘gold’ that must be jealously guarded from potential destruction.
Charles Peter Mayiga, the Buganda Kingdom premier, sips a cup of coffee during the International Coffee Day celebrations on October 5, 2022. PHOTO/GEORGE KATONGOLE
At the time when many coffee farmers were afraid and possibly scared of the national exercise for all coffee farmers in line with the European Union standards (EU Deforestation Regulation), the Katikkiro on September 6, rallied the coffee farmers to register.
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At a stakeholder meeting where he met the UCDA delegation, Mr Mayiga urged the farmers to embrace the registration exercise to meet the EU standards if they are to continue enjoying the good coffee prices. “We must inform our farmers that if the EU market is blocked for not meet[1]ing particular standards, the coffee prices will drop. The good coffee prices have enabled many farmers to have decent accommodation (houses), pay school fees for their children and get medical treatment,” he says.
He urges UCDA and the government to work as a team with Buganda and the other stakeholders. The Katikkiro has since expressed reservations about the intentions of the now controversial National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024, where the government seeks to dissolve UCDA. On his X- handle posted last Friday, Mr Mayiga hinted that the Bill may be politically motivated, given the widely questioned conduct of the Speaker and others during voting on the Bill. Nevertheless, the Katikkiro has rallied the farmers not to lose focus but safeguard their livelihoods through good farming practices.
“Emmwanyi Terimba initiative will go on unabated,” Katikkiro wrote on his X handle. The concerns by Mr Mayiga’s and many other stakeholders in the coffee industry stem from the fact that UCDA has been at the centre of the new coffee revolution that has promoted the coffee value chain in the past 10 years. Mr Jude Muleke, the Buddu County chief in charge of the Greater Masaka, attributes the robust development projects both at household level and commercial businesses to the coffee crop that not only benefits individual farmers but now employs many people through the coffee value chain.
“The chain of coffee processing factories that have sprung up employ many of our youth. We have seen families that had no permanent and decent homes build good homes because of the coffee crop proceeds. When you visit Masaka, Lwengo, and Bukomansimbi, among other Districts, the welfare of our people has greatly improved,” he says.
A man displays robusta coffee in central Uganda. PHOTO/MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
Ms Ketra Nakimuli, a coffee farmer at Genda Village Butuntumula Sub-county in Luweero District, owes her coffee farming project to the Emmwanyi Terimba campaign that gave her hope and boosted her income generating projects through the coffee crop.
“I had four acres of land that was almost wasted. The land had more than one acre of the coffee crop unattended to, yet I could go back to the overgrown coffee plants to pick the ripe coffee berries. I quickly got attracted to the Emmwanyi Terimba campaign. I got advice from the agriculture extension workers and the coffee plants doubled the production,” she told Monitor. Nakimuli now owns three acres of the coffee crop.
She has been able to renovate her house, accessing a simple irrigation system for the coffee gardens. Her dream is to have a four-acre coffee garden. While she harvested about 28 bags of the coffee beans for the 2024 season, the coffee price was a big surprise. “The Emmwanyi Terimba phrase is real. The coffee farmer is finally reaping from their sweat. I have no problem with the ongoing coffee registration exercise. We need to maintain the coffee standards because the people buying our coffee have set the standard that must be followed,” she says.
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Buganda produces the bulk of the Robusta coffee variety in Uganda and contributes more than 50 percent of the total coffee output in the country. The UCDA monthly report has predicted October coffee exports at about 500,000 bags after the main harvesting season in the Greater Masaka and Southwestern regions of the country.
This figure is slightly lower than the 532,212 bags exported during September 2024. Government through the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries is racing to beat the December 30, 2024 deadline for compliance as set by the EU, which is the biggest market for Ugandan coffee, accounting for about 60 percent of the annual Uganda coffee export.
A statement by Mr Frank Tumwebaze, the Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries minister, on October 1, rallied all stakeholders for teamwork to have a successful coffee farmer registration process in line with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Among the key guidelines is that coffee must not be produced on deforested land, and but must be produced in accordance with the relevant legislation of Uganda and accompanied by a due diligence statement containing geo-location data adhering to traceability standards that enable buyers to trace each batch of coffee back to its designated land plot.
MUSEVENI RESPONSES
President Museveni at the weekend scoffed at those tribalising the current coffee debate, branding their stance as sheer dishonesty. In a statement on his X, the President said it’s his ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), that expanded the production of coffee from two million bags in 1986 to the current 6.39 million of 60-kilogramme coffee bags., worth $900m.
“The NRM that provided security for the scientists, as already pointed out before rooting for rationalization to have the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) revert to its mother Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries.
“Is it rational to have an Agency or Authority for each of these? This is why we had to have a rationalisation- stop irrationality and be rational. To be condemned, are those who I hear try to bring in the nonsensical tribalism. When Katikkiro Mayiga joined us in promoting coffee, we welcomed him…” Mr Museveni stated.
He added: “It is, therefore, sheer dishonesty, to bring up tribalism where the NRM is involved. The massive industries the NRM has built, are mainly in Buganda – Namanve, Mukono, Kapeeka, Matugga- Gombe area, Luwero Industries in Nakasongola, Kisozi, etc. These have a direct benefit to nearby populations if they are well guided to take advantage of them.