VP Alupo launches coffee and cocoa campaign to transform Bukedi economy
The campaign, themed “Coffee for Wealth Creation and Household Commercialisation,” seeks to expand coffee and cocoa production across the seven districts of Bukedi — Busia, Tororo, Butaleja, Kibuku, Budaka, Butebo and Pallisa
TORORO, June 29, 2026 — Vice President [VP] Jessica Alupo has launched the second planting season of the Coffee and Cocoa Promotion Programme in the Bukedi Sub-region, calling on farmers, local leaders and development partners to embrace commercial agriculture as a pathway to wealth creation and household transformation.
Speaking at Tororo district headquarters on Friday, Alupo said the campaign aligns with the government’s broader strategy of transforming agriculture from subsistence farming into a profitable enterprise capable of improving household incomes and accelerating national development.
The campaign, themed “Coffee for Wealth Creation and Household Commercialisation,” seeks to expand coffee and cocoa production across the seven districts of Bukedi — Busia, Tororo, Butaleja, Kibuku, Budaka, Butebo and Pallisa.
Alupo noted that Uganda’s agricultural economy was historically built on major export commodities including coffee, cotton, tea, tobacco and copper, while tourism also became an important contributor to national growth. However, the decline in cotton production left many communities in eastern Uganda increasingly dependent on food crops that generate limited income.
She said the government is promoting coffee and cocoa as strategic cash crops with the potential to raise household earnings, increase export revenues and support industrialisation.
The Vice President referred to Uganda’s Coffee Roadmap, approved by President Yoweri Museveni in 2017, which targets increasing national coffee production to 20 million 60-kilogramme bags annually by 2030. She expressed confidence that Bukedi and neighbouring regions have the potential to become major contributors to the country’s coffee economy.
Under the initiative, the government and its partners plan to raise and distribute more than 80 million coffee and cocoa seedlings over the coming years.
Alupo also identified climate change as a major threat to agricultural productivity, citing unpredictable rainfall patterns and prolonged dry spells. She urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries [MAAIF] to prioritise irrigation, water-harvesting technologies, valley tanks, dams and community water reservoirs to support sustainable agricultural production.
She further called on MAAIF to continue providing quality planting materials, extension services and support for value addition to increase farmer incomes and create employment opportunities.
Addressing local leaders and young people, the Vice President encouraged active participation in commercial agriculture and government livelihood programmes such as the Parish Development Model [PDM] and Emyooga.
“Transformation will not come through speeches alone,” Alupo said. “It will come through hard work, discipline, proper farm management and collective commitment to commercial agriculture.”
She concluded by emphasising that Bukedi’s favourable growing conditions and strategic proximity to regional markets, including Kenya, position the sub-region to become one of Uganda’s leading coffee and cocoa production hubs.
https://thecooperator.news/govt-to-compensate-south-bukedi-cooperative-union/
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