Young, entrepreneurial private coffee service providers can effectively deliver last-mile coffee agronomy training to coffee farmers at a low cost; this was clearly shown by a successfully completed 3-year GCP supported initiative in Uganda.

The bulk of Ugandan coffee is produced at around 1.7 million smallholder family farms. Of those, two-thirds are traditional farmers who operate under a low-input-low-output system characterised by farms with a large stock of old, overgrown and poorly managed coffee trees. As a result, coffee yields of traditional farmers are at a quarter to one-third of optimum yields, with low cherry quality. Applying a few basic Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) on renovation and rehabilitation would double the yield of these trees, which would contribute towards a living income for traditional coffee farmers in Uganda.

In our next GCP Collective Action Initiative in Uganda, called: Ugandan Youth for Coffee – Developing Farmer Prosperity through R&R, we shall create a business opportunity for young private coffee service providers to deliver renovation & rehabilitation services to farmers, helping to increase their yields and thus income.