This happened – December 26: The mother of every tsunami

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“When it’s ready, guys come in trucks and take everything,” she says.

Although coffee is one of Uganda’s main agricultural products, making up about 15% of the country’s total exports, very little of it is consumed by locals like Musoke. There are various reasons for this, including myths and misconceptions about coffee.

cash crop

Solomon Kapere, a coffee farmer from Kamuli in eastern Uganda, says he has long thought of coffee as a cash crop. When he was younger, his grandfather owned 10 acres of coffee plantation, but he doesn’t remember ever drinking it.

Uganda’s public and private sectors are working to dispel myths by raising awareness and diversifying coffee products. In the process, they are expanding the market and increasing domestic consumption.

Ugandan coffee originates from Malawi and the Ethiopian highlands. It was introduced in 1900 to provide the British colonial government with revenue. For this reason, some Ugandans associate coffee with forced colonial labor, hence the name kiboko, which means leather or sugarcane in Swahili, says Daniel Karibwegi, an export trade specialist at Green Forest Safaris & Export Consulting, which promotes Uganda’s coffee exports abroad. .

“This is ingrained in some people’s minds to this day,” Karipwegi says. “Coffee is grown for others.”

It is grown for export

Since its introduction, production has grown. In 1925, coffee accounted for only 1% of the country’s exports, but by 1958, it had become the country’s main export crop, overtaking cotton. In the 1970s, during the regime of Idi Amin, which was marked by civil war, the industry experienced setbacks, and coffee production fell by almost half between 1972 and 1977.

In 2018, Ugandans consumed only 3% to 4% of the coffee produced in the country.

But the 1980s came with a process of liberalization, which increased exports and payments to farmers, as Uganda currently exports a large amount of coffee within the continent and across the world. In 2020, it exported 26% of the continent’s coffee and 1.75% of the world’s coffee, a sum of $539 million, according to the Economic Complexity Monitor, an online visualization platform affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Despite this global contribution, in February, Uganda announced the suspension for two years of its membership in the International Coffee Organization, an intergovernmental group, over concerns that the organization did not favor farmers and other players in the country. Uganda plans to use this time to focus more on increasing its domestic consumption.

In 2018, Ugandans consumed only 3% to 4% of the coffee produced in the country, according to a parliamentary committee report.

Most people tend to drink tea. “Coffee has been a cash crop since time immemorial — grown, sold and exported, while people kept tea close to their hearts,” Karipwegi says.

Coffee as a beauty product

Sonia Hadja Nali, who makes beauty products from coffee, hopes that diversifying its use will help change people’s attitudes and increase domestic consumption.

She was a mother of two who experimented with coffee. When her skin dried out and had black spots, she switched to something she loved – coffee. Nali says she mixed the coffee with coconut oil and added a little honey and lemon. This mixture helped remove the dark spots from her skin and left her glowing. I started making the product, a body scrub, and selling it.

Now, Nali makes about 70 bottles of her own body scrub a week. She does marketing on social media platforms, where she has hundreds of followers. Her product sells for 30,000 Ugandan shillings (about $8) a bottle.

Julius Nyanzi, a biological professor and entrepreneur, makes coffee grounds oil, which is rich in antioxidants that help skin retain moisture. He has also created a coffee aroma diffuser that he sells to restaurants “so they can smell what they’re selling” to attract customers. Nyanzi, who studied pharmacology, has sold more than 2,000 oil-making machines to farmers.

The National Coffee Research Institute, a government agency, has conducted research on how to use local ingredients like coffee to make skin lotion, says Evans Atwijoker, a technology developer at the institute. The formulas are given to Ugandans who make products to sell in Uganda and beyond.

Promotion of coffee consumption

The Uganda Coffee Development Authority, a government body that oversees the coffee industry, is promoting domestic coffee consumption by raising awareness about the benefits of the drink in hospitals and universities, says Doreen Ruyangui, chief quality controller. It installed billboards on the main roads in Kampala, the capital city, and the city of Entebbe to promote coffee consumption. Baristas have been trained to prepare and serve high quality coffee and are encouraged to participate in the Uganda National Barista Championship, part of the annual World Barista Competition that promotes excellence in coffee.

“The tournament helps baristas to make quality coffee,” she says.

As a result of these concerted efforts, domestic consumption has begun to recover. Rweihangwe cites indicators such as the growing coffee brands in the market and new coffee shops opening across the country.

We need a well-growth industry.

Yasir Ahmed, director of Café Javas, one of Uganda’s premier coffee shops with 13 branches, says Ugandans now drink more coffee than before, which he attributes to the efforts.

Ernest Pazani, the writer, says he began to appreciate coffee around 2010. He drinks his first cup after lunch to “beat postprandial depression” and get more work done, he says.

For Bazanye, Ugandans have always had a relationship with coffee, but what has changed is how they consume it. While some people traditionally chew coffee beans, more people, especially older and middle-aged Ugandans, are beginning to brew and drink them.

Karipwegi, the export specialist, says there are benefits to improving domestic consumption. “The economy will grow faster as domestic consumption increases,” he says.

Ruihangwe agrees: “Ethiopia consumes most of its coffee and exports less. We need a well-developed industry.” She sees this as an opportunity to provide more job opportunities for Ugandans.

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