LIRA City, February 25, 2025 – Andrew Okello Awany, the former Coordinator of the now-defunct Uganda Coffee Development Authority [UCDA] for the Lango Subregion, is advocating for the phasing out of Robusta Elite coffee varieties in favour of clonal Robusta coffee varieties.
Clonal coffee varieties, including KR1, KR3, KR10, and others, are propagated asexually from a single parent plant. According to Miggade Youth Farm, the process of clonal coffee propagation involves harvesting nodal cuttings from young shoots of recommended coffee varieties and rooting them under specialised conditions.
Miggade Youth Farm, a youth-owned agricultural enterprise based in the rural areas of Nakaseke Town Council, Nakaseke district, has been producing high-quality Coffee Wilt Disease-resistant [CWD-r] KR1 to KR10 Robusta coffee plantlets to help farmers replant their coffee farms across Uganda.
Okello explained that clonal coffee varieties are drought-resistant, mature faster, and can be effectively produced by nursery operators.
“We want all nursery operators to move away from traditional elite coffee and transition to the production of coffee clones, which are high-yielding and mature within a very short time. Over time, we aim to phase out the elite varieties,” Okello said.
However, Okello acknowledged that the production of clonal seedlings can be a time-consuming process. He said that although it requires significant effort, they would offer training to farmers interested in producing the seedlings.
“The process of producing clonal seedlings is lengthy, and nursery operators are best suited for the task. However, if any farmer is willing to take the lead, we are always open to providing training and technical support to ensure their success,” Okello explained.
Meanwhile, Umar Suwed, a coffee nursery operator in Lira City, noted that although clonal coffee is a superior variety, it is not yet being produced locally, as it is considered too expensive for farmers in the subregion.
“Clonal coffee is better than the elite variety, but it requires a shift in mindset from farmers. They need to understand that clonal coffee is more scientific and superior. However, we are not yet producing clonal seedlings because no one is willing to buy a stem at Shs 2,500,” Suwed said.
He added that the rapid maturation of clonal coffee could offer hope to farmers. “Starting to produce clonal coffee would be a good opportunity because it encourages farmers, as they can start harvesting within a year. Many farmers give up when they hear that coffee takes four or five years to start bearing fruit, but coffee can make people very wealthy,” he said.
George Opio Okuta, another coffee nursery bed operator in Apac District, explained that they already have a recommended mother garden for their clonal coffee variety, although it requires many resources, some of which are expensive. “We have a recommended mother garden for our clonal coffee variety, but it requires many items that are sometimes costly,” Okuta said.
However, Benson Apita, a coffee farmer in Lira City, expressed a preference for growing Elite coffee, as half of the clonal coffee stems he planted last year had dried out due to the hot weather. “Clonal coffee requires a lot of water, ideally from rainfall or irrigation, which most farmers may not have access to. If there is no rain, as we are experiencing in Lango right now, it becomes very difficult. I planted 900 clonal coffee stems, but half of them have dried out due to the weather conditions. On the other hand, my elite coffee plantations are still green,” Apita said.
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