The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) is to plant about 20 million coffee seedlings to replace the coffee trees that succumbed to the Coffee Wilt Disease that attacked the crop 10 years ago. Henry Ngabirano, the managing director, said the initiative will start this financial year. He said they had developed community-based coffee nurseries to supply farmers with seedlings all year round.
"Coffee is the largest consumed product in the world. Through this programme, we shall revive annual exportable production of 4.5m bags (60 kilo each) by 2015," Ngabirano said. He said the only way to boost the coffee sector is through replanting and rehabilitation of the existing coffee trees, with emphasis on good agricultural practices.
Ngabirano was speaking at the commissioning of Lwanyaga Wet Processing Plant in Karungu sub-county, Masaka district. The plant, worth about sh100m ($60,000) was one of 16 wet-processing plants that were acquired by the government in 2002. He said the machines, which have a combined processing capacity of 31 tonnes per hour, were imported into the country from Brazil at $460,000. They have been leased out to farmers at 50% discount with support from a bank.
He said they had initiated a programme to demonstrate the benefits of rehabilitating the old coffee shambas, by setting up 600 rehabilitation demonstration farms in every sub-county in the coffee-growing districts.
New Vision
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