HOIMA, August 13, 2024 – Farmers under Kigorobya Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Society Limited in Hoima district have appealed to government to provide them with coffee seedlings, saying it would boost production of the cash crop in the area.
Patrick Isingoma, Secretary of the cooperative society said currently coffee seedlings are expensive for most of the farmers as a few certified suppliers in the area sell a seedling at Shs 1,500.
“If a farmer wants to plant 400 seedlings, they will cost him or her Shs 600,000 which is a lot of money for most of the farmers,” he said, adding that some farmers have been forced to plant seedlings that grow on their own.
Jimmy Tibagwa, a coffee farmer and mobiliser of Kyabisagazi Coffee Farmers’ Group said this season he prepared over two acres of land to plant coffee but has failed to get seedlings, despite spending Shs 1 million on land preparation.
He said that farmers initially were getting coffee seedlings from Uganda Coffee Development Authority [UCDA] but this was halted, worsened by the fact that most of the local suppliers were stopped by UCDA to supply the seedlings due to non-compliance.
He noted that when UCDA stopped supplying seedling, farmers resorted to getting coffee seedlings from local suppliers. Unfortunately, most of these local suppliers were stopped by UCDA on a claim that they are not certified.
“Bulindi Chimpanzee Conservation Project has been supplying us coffee seedlings but this was stopped recently because the project was supplying seedlings that were not cloned. This has left us stuck,” he said.
David Karubanda, Kirobya County Member of Parliament confirmed to this reporter that many farmers have prepared land for coffee planting but they have nowhere to get the seedlings.
He noted that several farmers have reached him demanding him asking him to get them the coffee seedlings but he is unable to fulfill their requests.
He urged government to secure funds and resume supplying farmers with coffee seedlings for increased production.
The UCDA Hoima Sub Regional Coffee Extension Officer, Rosemary Mukonyezi said UCDA stopped supplying coffee seedlings due to a lack of funds.
She noted government is no longer funding the supply of seeds to farmers unless they go through the Parish Development Model [PDM], a government programme launched in 2022, to fight household poverty.
On the issue of lack of quality seedling supply, Mukonyezi advised that farmers can prepare nursery beds with the certification from UCDA.
https://thecooperator.news/lango-coffee-coop-minting-money-from-coffee-value-addition/
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