Coffee boom: The Backbone of livelihoods in Bugisu

Samuel Wakinya, 59, a primary school teacher, embarked on growing Arabica coffee on a large scale in 2004 and has never looked back.
Mr Wakinya, a resident of Bushika sub-county in Bududa District, earned Shs60 million from his 10-acre plantation last season.
“For us in Bugisu, coffee is inherited but I embarked on large scale farming in 2004. Last season, I reaped Shs60 million,” Mr Wakinya says.
Mr Wakinya, who teaches at LwakhaKha Primary School in Bududa District, says he has been able to educate his children, who are now graduates, through coffee farming.
“I have a permanent house and have also been able to educate my children and all this is possible because of coffee,” he says.
As the chairperson of Bushika Integrated Area Cooperative Enterprise Ltd, Mr Wakinya says they are able to earn more as farmers because they have embarked on value addition unlike before when they used to cheaply sell raw coffee.
“Because of value addition, we now sell green beans at Shs20,000 per kilogramme, and we got a lot of money in billions although I cannot disclose the figure because this is farmers' money,” he says.
Bushika has 38 primary cooperative societies and more than 3,000 members, with the farmers earning about Shs5 million per acre of coffee plantation. 
Mr Wakinya says the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has helped the farmers in capacity building and supplying seedlings.
“As farmers, we are challenged and confused when we hear that the government is dissolving UCDA. It has been doing capacity building, supplying seedlings and they have also marketed our coffee on the international market,” he says.
Mr Wakinya says Bamasaba coffee is the backbone of their livelihood.
Among the Bamasaba, who live around Mt Elgon in the eastern region, Arabica coffee, which stands out as a top tier in the global coffee market, is the most valued cash crop that sustains the locals.
Most of the farmers interviewed for this article said there had been no better price for the crop than now.
“We had never experienced a season like this where coffee prices go as high as Shs2,500 for raw coffee beans and Shs13,000 per kilogramme of dried beans,” Ms Zipola Watulo, a retired head teacher and farmer, says.
In past seasons, the farmers tagged the price of raw coffee beans or red cherries at between Shs800 and Shs1,500, and that of dried beans or parchment coffee at between Shs8,000 and Shs9,000.
Mr Anthony Welishe, a coffee farmer, shows off the house he built from coffee proceeds in Bukhanakwa Village, Busano Parish in Busanao Sub-county in Mbale District. PHOTO | DERRICK WENANI
Ms Watulo, a resident of Busano Township in Busano Sub-county, Mbale District, says: “I bought a cow and I was able to clear school fees for my youngest daughter at university.” 
She also revealed that many farmers in Bugisu are not enjoying the high prices because most of them registered low coffee yields unlike in the past seasons.
Mr Anthony Welishe from Bukhanakwa Village, Busano Parish in Busanao Sub-county in Mbale District, says the current trend in the prices of coffee has motivated farmers, who were almost giving up.
“I have got whatever I have because of coffee. I have been able to construct my house without going for loans, I have two cross-breed cattle, and bought a lot of land around this sub-county,” he says.
Mr Welishe, who began coffee farming 20 years ago, says the prices have never been this high, adding that it could be a result of demand created by the low coffee yields.
“The low yields were the result of heavy rains that pounded Bugisu when the coffee was bearing seeds,” he says.
Mr John Musira, the vice chairman of Bugisu Cooperative Society (BCU) and MP for Bubulo East in Namisindwa District, says the farmers need to adopt new agriculture methods and coffee varieties to enjoy the growing market for coffee worldwide.
“We are now encouraging farmers to intensify the use of organic manure in their gardens because our coffee is purely organic and use new varieties like the one I have tried called Ruiru 11 coffee variety from Kenya that fruits all the time and is resistant to pests,” he says, adding that BCU buys a kilogramme of dried coffee at Shs13,000.
Formed in 1954, BCU remains one of the few farmer-led entities in the country that survived the closure of Uganda Cooperative Bank on May 19, 1999.
Operating as a joint marketing point for coffee in Bugisu Sub-region, BCU derives its mandate from member primary societies.
Bugisu farmers defend UCDA
Mr Karim Mukhobe, a resident of Bukibokolo Sub-county in Bududa District, Sub-county, says: “The government should stop the idea of dissolving UCDA, which is providing an enabling environment for moisture metres.”
Mr Steven Masiga, a coffee farmer and spokesperson of Bamasaba Cultural Institution, says there is need for sufficient legislative sensitisation on the consequences and benefits of the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
“Parliament should pause a little and engage coffee farmers and consumers on the dissolution of UCDA,” he says.
Mr Masiga adds that the current Bill is gaining notoriety like the infamous Age Limit Bill, with the potential to cause friction in the country.
“I propose that Parliament halts the current Bill and consult the coffee growers,” he says.
Mr Nandala Mafabi, the chairperson of BCU, says coffee is one of the most treasured commodities after oil.
“The importance of coffee is not just a recent development; it is historical given that it is the coffee-producing Buganda and Bugisu that guaranteed Uganda’s Independence. Buganda contributed $500,000 while Bugisu contributed $300,000 to convince the British that Ugandans were capable of mobilising their own resources to run the country,” he says.
“The coffee industry today employs approximately 12 million people. It is therefore a commodity that needs special attention,” he says.
Mr Nandala, who is also the MP for Budadiri West in Sironko District, says from July 2023 to June 2024, coffee exports earned the country $1.14 billion.
“Actually, the US uses coffee as a beverage and a drug. And so, this beverage needs special attention right from planting, weeding, harvesting, processing until it gets to that cup as a beverage. UCDA has painstakingly done this. I doubt that Maaif has the capacity to provide this oversight role,” he adds.
He says UCDA should be preserved just like the Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Uganda (ICPAU) and the Uganda Law Society (ULS).
“These entities regulate and maintain standards in those bodies and they survive on fees from the organisations. If the government doesn’t have money to pay employees in UCDA, we can turn UCDA into a semi-autonomous organisation like Uganda Law Society,” he says.
Additional reporting by DERICK WENANI