AMURU– Amuru district agricultural department and the district leaders have been tasked to popularise coffee farming to rally more farmers in the sub-sector which is one of the priority enterprises as government advocates for intensive farming.
Currently, there are less than 200 coffee farmers in the district, despite the fact that it has fertile land suitable for growing the crop which is one of Uganda’s best foreign exchange-earners.
Brigadier Colonel Francis Acoka, the Regional Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation [OWC] in Amuru district says the district leaders both political and technical have to make deliberate efforts to sensitize the locals about coffee farming.
President Museveni has for long been advocating for increased coffee-growing across the country, and Acoka says that the agricultural department needs to give technical knowledge to farmers so that they are able to grow the cash crop.
“Many of our farmers could be struggling because they lack adequate information about coffee farming, so the agricultural department ought to sensitize them on what to do when farming coffee,” Acoka said.
According to Acoka, notwithstanding the contributions already being made by extension workers, the politicians, given their influence, need to equip themselves with proper knowledge and share it with their respective communities.
Acoka was speaking to farmers on Monday this week in a meeting organised by Uganda Coffee Development Authority [UCDA] to recognize coffee farmers in Guru guru Subcounty in the district.
The farmers including; Michael Ojok, Denish Omoya, and Doreen Aceng were rewarded for their good performance in regard to coffee farming in Amuru district.
Denis Omoya, one of the coffee farmers in Amuru district, asked the government to consider bringing the coffee market closer, saying this will also contribute to mobilising more farmers into the sector.
Acoka encouraged the farmers to continue with coffee farming, promising concerned stakeholders that he would lobby for them a coffee factory to provide a near market for the farmers.
https://thecooperator.news/au-minsters-summit-declares-coffee-a-strategic-commodity/
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