In Uganda, coffee is a critical part of the economy and its importance is growing. Over 1.8 million households grow coffee, and coffee contributes nearly a third of the country’s export earnings, paying for critical infrastructure like roads, hospitals, and schools. The country has ambitious goals to quadruple coffee production in the coming years. Uganda is known primarily for robusta production, and is eager to increase overall production and quality in order to boost demand. Pests and diseases, in particular, coffee wilt disease, have been critical challenges for Uganda.
Focus Country
Uganda
Global export rank
7th
International Coffee Organization, 2017-2019 mean
Coffee produced by smallholders
99%
Enveritas Global Farmer Study, 2018
Our Strategy
Uganda, with 14% of the world’s smallholder farms, makes it one of WCR’s most important focus countries. WCR is working together with NaCORI to advance a shared research agenda in support of Uganda’s ambitious goals to increase coffee production and quality. We are supporting our partners in Uganda to develop an investment roadmap and tools to enable the modernization of coffee breeding, including molecular and biochemical tools to support variety improvement and seed systems, and to develop effective seed systems that enhance farmer access to improved coffee varieties, and to strengthen coffee research through resource mobilization, technology transfer, partnerships and capacity building. Uganda also participates in the International Multilocation Variety Trial.
Country Progress
Uganda’s exports are increasing.
2009-2011
2,938,000
Bags
2019-2021
4,508,000
Bags
Country Statistics
Impact Potential
Production
1
International Coffee Organization (ICO). 2021. Exports of all forms of coffee by exporting countries to all destinations. Accessed from https://ico.org/trade_statistics.asp?section=Statistics
2
TBD
3
Enveritas, 2018. “How many coffee farmers are there? Global coffee farm study”
4
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2021. Crops and livestock products. Accessed from http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC
5
Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI). 2021. ASTI database. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Accessed from: https://www.asti.cgiar.org/data
6
Calculated using ICO production data and FAO area harvested data
Our Partners
Working collaboratively to ensure the future of coffee
National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI)
NaCORI conducts and manages basic and applied research for coffee in support of national goals to increase the value of coffee exports. NaCORI is one of 16 public agricultural research institutes of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), and has been named a Center of Robusta Excellence. NaCORI in recent years has developed and released new robusta clones and is exploring improvements to cloning.
Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA)
UCDA was established in 1991 to promote and oversee the coffee industry in Uganda by supporting research, promoting production, controlling quality, and improving the marketing of coffee in order to optimize foreign exchange earnings for the country and payments to the farmers.
Uganda Coffee Platform
The Uganda Coffee Platform was established in 2006 to bring stakeholders together to discuss the challenges facing the coffee sub-sector and identify strategies and initiatives to increase coffee production in a sustainable manner. The platform contributed to the National Coffee Policy, launched in 2013 and the subsequent National Coffee Strategy, launched in 2016. The Platform’s Annual Coffee Show has attracted tens of thousands of participants.
