The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has expressed hope that the current good coffee prices will help the country achieve its coffee production targets and generate more income for Uganda coffee farmers.
Coffee garden
The UCDA said in a report that Uganda is expected to export 3.1 million bags in the 2010/2011 season from 2.67 million 60 kilogram bags in 2009/2010.
UCDA says most coffee farmers are currently selling their coffee at a price 2000 shillings per kilogram of dry, unprocessed Robusta beans from 1700 shillings in October 2010.
The coffee development authority says the rising prices might help encourage more farmers to resume coffee farming and harvest, and overturn the recent reduction in Robusta coffee exports resulting from unfavourable weather conditions and outbreaks of pests.
UCDA says this coupled with the government’s coffee production campaign targeting improving coffee farmers’ access cheap credit and agricultural inputs as well as funding research into high-yielding hybrid coffee plants will see the country meet and probably surpass its coffee export targets.
Uganda has set a target of producing 4.5 million 60-Kg bags of exported coffee by 2015 as part of its campaign to ensure the country benefits more from its leading agricultural foreign exchange earner- coffee.