16/09/2021
🍒 Coffee is Uganda’s leading foreign exchange earner generating more than $422.4m (Shs1.6trillion) every year, and in 2012, the country produced three million 60-kg bags, most of it by smallholder farmers.
And while a lot has been written about coffee and how it is Uganda’s leading traditional cash crop, no one has brought out the real economics of this *second most traded commodity in the world, just after oil
🖊️ In this article, here is what it takes to grow coffee on a commercial basis.
Planting coffee is not an overnight wonder; it takes adequate preparations. The coffee seedlings should be planted at the onset of the rainy season into holes, two feet by two feet large. They (holes) should be dug one month prior to planting.
Benson Byaruhanga, CEO at BENJOH TRUSTED CO LTD , a body that empowers farmers across the country, says the holes should be filled with topsoil mixed with 500gms of biochar organic manure (a water retention product) before planting.
🌱In addition to a small shade around each young plant that protects it from drought stress, ring mulching keeps the soil around the trees moist.
🌱 According to coffee planting guidelines, the spacing defer according the variety, that is, for Arabica, spacing can be 2.5 metres x 2.5 metres while for Robusta, 3 metres x 3 metres is ideal.
*SEEDLINGS*
Uganda is the birth place of Robusta and its growing is highly encouraged.
This means an acre of Robusta will accommodate about 500 coffee trees. We recommend farmers to buy seedlings from certified nursery operators.
A seedling normally sells from Shs1,000 - Shs1,500.
As coffee grows, the costs tend to come down but what is crucial in initial stages is to keep the plantation w**d free through mulching and other mechanisms like w**ding. Coffee starts full production after three years.
▪️Given the apparent effects of weather changes, it is recommended to plant shade trees in coffee farms at appropriate spacing and intercrop it with bananas.
▪️Some of the shade trees recommended are nitrogen fixing and enhance the fertility of the soil in addition to protecting it from soil erosion. Shade trees and bananas help protect coffee from drought.
🍒Common tree species that can be used as shade trees in both Arabica and Robusta coffee systems include Grevelia robusta, Ficus natalensis, Albizia coriaria, Mesiopsis eminii, Cordial africana, Acacia or Erythrina spp. Fruit trees such as mango, *avocado* or jackfruit can also be included at intervals.
🕺🏾Considering 500 coffee trees of Robusta in an acre, a farmer can harvest about 4,000 kgs in a year (there are two coffee seasons in a year), taking the average of four kilos per tree under average management.
And taking Shs2,000 as the average price of Kiboko (unshelled coffee cherries), a farmer is able to earn a gross profit of Shs 8m. Thus two acres which a serious commercial farmer can manage can make you Shs 16m. This is for a farmer who cannot afford to add value to his coffee.
🖊️ Benson urges farmers to at least make it a point for their coffee to go through primary processing/hulling or removing of husks from dried cherries. This shelled clean coffee is referred to as FAQ (Fair Average Quality) and fetches higher prices compared to Kiboko.
🍒 “In Uganda, a tree can give you 3kgs under average management but under good management it can give you even 5kgs. On average, a kilo of parchment is Shs 4000. The more you add value to your coffee, the higher the returns.”
🖊️Benson says farmers can only remain profitable by testing their soils and feeding it appropriately. “As coffee grows, nutrients are being eaten up in the soil.
🕺🏾A good farmer should put back coffee husks into the farm as long as they are from his farm. If you take your coffee for processing and leave husks there, you are doing what we call soil mining. You are not giving back to the soil.
“If you use virgin land, it will take about three years without using fertilisers. You start mining the soil when you start harvesting,”
🍒It is not economical to apply fertilisers without soil analysis which many farmers do not carry out. For soil testing, as Benjoh trusted co ltd , we have that service at a reasonable fee.
🍒Another way of detecting missing nutrients in the soil is by looking the health of the plant.
🍒Farmers should always do soil analysis through soil testing for better application of fertilizers.
▪️
👉🏾 seedlings,
👉🏾 Coffee plantation establishment and management.
👉🏾 Biochar organic manure
👉🏾 Organic pesticides
👉🏾 soil sampling and testing
📞 Or 🪀 0709396693 or 0788204144
Email [email protected]
📍 Located in wakiso town after Nansana hoima Rd.
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