Climate change: Coffee farmers tipped on agroforestry

AMURU-Coffee farmers in Amuru district have been tipped to engage in agroforestry to avert the impacts of climate change on their farms.

According to reports obtained from the agricultural office, the district has over 115 acres of coffee planted in different sub-counties.

For example,  Amuru Sub-County has 30 acres of coffee in total, Lakang, 40 acres, Layima 25 acres, Guru guru 20 acres. According to officials, these acres of coffee need to be grown with trees that provide leaves that can provide fertility to the soil when they rot, as well as sheds suitable for the growth of coffee trees.

Simon Komakech, the Amuru district agricultural officer said a broad forest cover that would have provided a suitable environment for the growth of coffee trees was destroyed by charcoal and log dealers.

He said the only way farmers can get good harvests is by practicing agroforestry where crops are planted alongside trees.

Komakech said currently coffee farmers are only getting 10 percent of the coffee yields due to the impact of climate change.

Komakech said they have since started engaging farmers to plant food crops including peas, bananas, among others. He notes that plans are underway to support the farmers with majorly Musisi tree seedlings.

According to Komakech, they are pushing for agroforestry because besides the already destroyed forest cover, the district has a rather prolonged dry season, which he says has discouraged farmers from venturing into coffee farming.

“Amuru, like many areas in the region, has a long dry season, which affects the growth of coffee and impacting on the yields and quality of the beans,” Komakech said.

Julius Otim, the agricultural extension office for Layima and Guru guru sub-counties said that the fertile soil in the district supports the further establishment of coffee plantations.

Otim said in a bid to rally more farmers to join coffee farming, they have sensitised about best practices for better yields.

According to Otim, they have advised farmers not to cut the coffee trees, while clearing their gardens and instead plant more trees.

“We bring in potential buyers of coffee during the sensitisation days. We want to give the farmers a bigger market picture so that they can get serious and do the right thing while practicing coffee farming,” Otim said.

Vincent Loum, a coffee farmer in the Amuru district says the new approach is a big step towards improving the quality and magnitude of yields from their gardens.

According to Loum, as farmers, they have been using the traditional knowledge they were taught by their elders, which has certainly had an impact on the quality of their products.

“We were told that when you want to plant,  you cut down trees in the names of clearing land, without replanting, this has as a result affected the yield we get from coffee, let alone the quality of the beans,” Loum said.

Stephen Opiru, another coffee farmer however said the sensitisation conducted only on selected days is not enough.  He wants the agriculturalists to give them more education, especially on agroforestry and inter-cropping.

“The selected days don’t give us enough time to exhaust solutions to our problems, ranging from control of pests and diseases, selecting crops and trees that we can plant alongside our coffee plants among others. We also need assurances of markets. Most times during the coffee growing sensitisation days, we interact with officials from Uganda Coffee Development Association but not buyers,” Opiru said.

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