Café Africa Uganda established 2006

The coffee sector in Uganda

Uganda is the largest exporter of coffee in Africa. Coffee makes up 20% of Uganda’s export revenue, and provides work and income to millions of producers, traders, processors and retailers. Coffee is produced by an estimated 1.8 to 2.2 million households. The majority operate a mixed farming system, in which coffee provides up to 75% of the households’ cash income.  The Government is prioritising coffee as a strategic crop to help improve community livelihoods.

The coffee trade and processing industry is fully liberalised. The Uganda Coffee Act 2021 regulates the coffee sector by setting quality standards and licensing factories and exporters. The Uganda Coffee Platform, managed by Café Africa, provides a neutral convening, analysis and information provision space for the sector.  The Government and private sector deliver advisory services to producers, and promote the coffee sector locally and internationally.

During the past 15 years coffee production and exports have increased from 2.5 million bags to 6.5 million bags. This was achieved by government and private investment in (re)planting resistant coffee varieties after almost 50% of the robusta plantations were destroyed by coffee wilt disease in the 1990s.  In 2017, the Government launched the Uganda Coffee Roadmap with the aim of increasing production to 20 million bags by 2030.  Under this initiative a country-wide renovation and rehabilitation campaign is being executed, along with strengthening farmer organisations and stimulating private coffee management services to enhance service provision to producers.

Of late, the coffee sector has rolled out a strong sustainability and certification effort in response to climate change and changing demands from western consumers.  Since 2023, the government and private sector have been investing heavily in EUDR and CS3D compliance actions.

Café Africa’s achievements and recent projects

Now in its eighteenth year of operation, Café Africa Uganda (CAU) continues to develop its dual role of secretariat to the Uganda Coffee Platform, and piloting innovative approaches to enhance smallholder coffee farmers’ productivity.

National Coffee Platform: EUDR ‘Knowledge Hub’

As well as continuing to organise Uganda Coffee Platform meetings for all coffee stakeholders, both public and private, Café Africa Uganda took on the role of ‘knowledge hub’ for the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) – originally due to be enforced from January 2025 – and the related Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D).  Documents and presentations were created by CAU for meeting spaces such as the Annual Stakeholders’ Meeting, taskforce meetings and workshops organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC). CAU went on to finalise the draft Action Plan on EUDR and CS3D for the coffee sector.

National Sustainability Extension Materials

CAU coordinated the updating of Uganda’s 2014 National Harmonized Extension Materials. The materials have been renamed ‘The National Sustainability Extension Materials’ and promote the latest thinking and techniques in sustainable coffee cultivation at all levels within the coffee value chain.  They were launched in 2023.

CAU trained 197 UCDA and District Local Government Master Trainers in how to use the NSC materials.  The Master Trainers will in turn roll out training to Parish Development Coffee Advisors as part of the government’s Parish Development programme.

Youth for Coffee in Uganda Initiative

Café Africa Uganda continues to coordinate the Global Coffee Platform Collective Action Initiative (YfCI) ‘Ugandan Youth for Coffee: Developing Prosperity through Rehabilitation & Rejuvenation’.  The YfCI was born out of one of the Uganda Coffee Roadmap’s priority areas. The Coffee Roadmap (drawn up between 2017 and 2019) identifies coffee renovation and rehabilitation (R&R) of smallholder coffee farms as fundamental to sustainably meeting the country’s coffee production target of 20 million bags by 2030. The YfCI aims to train 150 private Youth Coffee Service Provider Business Units (YCSP-BUs) to carry out R&R at 30,000 individual coffee farms (50 trees per farm) in ten operational areas in Uganda, thereby increasing smallholder farmers’ incomes and providing future employment opportunities for the trained youth.

The first cohort of YCSP-BUs (90 young men and women from three districts organised into 45 YCSP-BUs) who were recruited in 2022, completed their training during 2023. To date, they have performed R&R on more than 300,000 coffee trees belonging to more than 5,000 farmers.  Another 30 YCSP-BU’s comprising 60 youths, have received training covering coffee agronomy, business skills, agroforestry and digital skills.

Strong financial support has been provided by JDE Peet’s, P4F (Partnerships for Forests), Nestlé, LDC (Louis Dreyfus Company) and Sucden.

Towards an Integrated Coffee Extension Service (TICS)

TICS ran from 2018-2021 and reached over 50,000 farmers in Uganda. TICS, funded by JDE and IDH, was designed to integrate coffee-specific extension services into the Unified National Agricultural Extension Service delivery system, at national district level.

The TICS model was to set up Coffee Community-Based Facilitators (CCBFs) with coffee demonstration fields and a structured training programme.  TICS trained 180 CCBFs and reached 51,355 farmers. FAQ yield per tree increased to 560 grams (280 grams above the baseline, and 180 grams above the target per tree). 79% of CCBS went on to be engaged on a commercial basis by public and private coffee extension programmes.

Strengthening Coffee Seedling Survival

Working with UTZ-Rainforest Alliance, CAU worked in the districts of Isingiro and Ibanda to improve coffee seedling survival.  Adoption of GAPS, use of UCDA-certified nursery operators and training (including the development of a training guide) resulted in a 97% seedling survival rate.