Gulu coffee farmers form cooperative society to tackle emerging challenges
Coffee growing, which is relatively new in the Acholi Subregion, has attracted farmers in Gulu district due to its significant potential to improve livelihoods, as it is in high demand on the global market
GULU, April 8, 2025 – Coffee farmers in the Northern Uganda district of Gulu have established the Gulu Coffee Producers Cooperative Society Limited to tackle emerging market and agronomic challenges.
Coffee growing, which is relatively new in the Acholi Subregion, has attracted farmers in Gulu district due to its significant potential to improve livelihoods, as it is in high demand on the global market.
Patrick Okello Onguti, the Chief Technical Advisor and Agronomist at the Gulu Coffee Producers Cooperative Society Limited, addressed the coffee farmers during a meeting held at Paicho Subcounty headquarters. He urged them to learn from one another, as coffee cultivation is a new venture in the Acholi Subregion.
“Coffee is a new enterprise for farmers in the Acholi Subregion, and we should learn from each other. Many of us are accustomed to seasonal crops that last only three to four months. We are not familiar with how to maintain plants in the garden for longer periods,” Onguti explained.
Jacob Cong, a local resident of Paicho Subcounty, expressed concerns that coffee could end up like other crops in the past, where farmers were left stranded with their produce due to a lack of buyers.
“Many projects, such as chilli, ginger, and chia seed, were introduced before coffee. Farmers rushed to grow them, only to be left without buyers after harvest. I have a neighbour who is stuck with five basins of coffee beans and doesn’t know where to sell them,” Cong said.
Many farmers also reported that they had previously received coffee seedlings through various government programmes, such as Operation Wealth Creation and the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), but that the plants had withered due to prolonged dry spells.
Cong shared that he planted 400 coffee plants in 2014, but only 10 had survived to date. He admitted that he had planted the seedlings without guidance from agricultural extension workers.
“I have only just realised that I did not dig the holes as required. My holes were too shallow. I also failed to put measures in place to conserve water during the dry season and planted too late, in June,” he added.
In response, Onguti assured the farmers that being part of the cooperative would help to address such challenges. “When there are many producers, buyers will be available. It’s unlikely that a coffee buyer will come all the way here to buy just five basins of coffee,” he said.
He also advised the farmers not to plant coffee seedlings late, especially when the rainy season is coming to an end.
Alex Otim, the Chairperson of the cooperative, encouraged all coffee farmers in the areas where the cooperative operates to join. “It is high time we engaged in proper farming that yields good income. If we start growing high-value crops like coffee, we will be able to access electricity, good food, and quality healthcare for our households,” he said.
Coffee is one of the 18 priority commodities that farmers are being encouraged to grow under the Parish Development Model (PDM), a government programme aimed at transitioning 3.5 million households in the country from subsistence farming to a money economy through commercial agriculture.
Other crops supported by the PDM include cocoa, cassava, tea, vegetable oils/palm oil, maize, rice, sugarcane, fish, dairy, beef, bananas, beans, avocado, shea nut, cashew nuts, and macadamia nuts.
https://thecooperator.news/gulu-and-amuru-maize-farmers-and-buyers-trained-on-standards-compliance/
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