Kasese coffee cooperatives receive generators to boost value addition

KASESE – Coffee farmers in Kasese district have a reason to smile after receiving three generators to provide thermal power in the processing of soluble coffee.

The Ministry of Water and Environment in partnership with the Natural Resources Defence Initiative [NRDI] donated the three generators to three coffee cooperatives in Nyamwamba catchment area to help in enhancing value addition.

The cooperatives which have benefited are from   Bulembia division, Kilembe and Mbuga sub-counties all in Nyamwamba catchment area which has experienced deadly floods for the last eight years.

The Kasese NRDI field coordinator, Zalot Kipura said the generators will be connected to the coffee processing plants owned by the cooperatives.

“Lack of power has been a challenge to these farmers because they have been spending a lot of money to transport their coffee to processing centres in Kasese town and yet they have their own processing plants lying idle due to lack of power,” Kipura said.

He said farmers in these areas had witnessed improvement in their yields due to better agronomic practices but lack of electricity had posed a significant challenge to them.

Anatabhuwa Kyakimwa, a member of Kathoma Coffee Cooperative Society in Mbuga -Subcounty commended the Ministry of Water and Environment, and NRDI for providing the generators, saying they have been incurring high costs in transporting coffee to Kasese town for processing.

“This is a relief to us as farmers because we have been suffering especially with this poor road network which has always facilitated high transport costs,” Kyakimwa said.

He said the donated generations will further save coffee farmers from middlemen who have been offering very low prices for unprocessed coffee.

“With the ability to process our coffee on-site, we can now have more control over the value of our produce,” he said.

Pauline Bwambale, a coffee farmer from Kilembe Sub-county said a functioning coffee processing unit will attract more farmers to cultivate the cash crop.

He said the low prices offered for unprocessed coffee had previously discouraged many potential growers.

NRDI which was established last year by the Ministry of Water and Environment primarily focuses on implementing various restoration activities in the upstream areas of River Nyamwamba.

These activities include planting trees along the riverbanks to restore degraded land. Additionally, the initiative aims to improve the livelihoods of communities within the catchment area.

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