Abstract:

Agricultural sector remains the backbone of Uganda’s economy. For instance, over 63.4% of the labour force is employed in the sector, the sector contributes to more than 50% of country’s export earnings, 70% 0f employment and approximately 60% of manufacturing output.
Coffee is among the 10 prioritized commodities (coffee, tea, fisheries, cocoa, cotton, vegetable oil, beef, maize, dairy and cassava) earmarked for sustainable agro-industrialisation under NDP III due to its current and potential contribution to livelihoods, household incomes and export earnings. However, most of Uganda coffee exports are in form of green beans, amidst growing market segments for coffee products such as soluble coffee both globally and domestically. Furthermore, Uganda coffee yields have remained low, at 0.6 MT/Ha against best-in-class coffee yield of 2.2 MT/ Ha in Vietnam. This calls for deep understanding of the bottlenecks hampering sub-sector growth to guide implementation of interventions to unlock this enormous potential.
USAID FtF Uganda Agriculture Research Activity is a 5 year, US$10 million flagship research and development project, funded by USAID and implemented by CGIAR centers and NARO which seeks to promote use and commercialization of improved crop and livestock technologies with yield and nutrition enhancing characteristics. The activity focuses on: (i) continued improvement of crop genetics, bio-fortification, and integrated pest and disease management for both crops and livestock, in response to market-demand, and (ii) strengthening NARO’s institutional sustainability in the marketplace. Specific activities that the project focuses on include: (i) facilitate the release and commercialization of varieties developed under previous and ongoing research efforts, (ii) develop improved crop and animal production and management technologies in response to emerging threats and market demands, and (iii) consolidate previous gains in institutional and human capacity development to align research with market needs, and mobilize domestic resources that will displace current development partner funding. For USAID FtF Uganda Agriculture Research Activity to execute its mandate, (i) there is need for a clear understanding of the current and future trends in the target value chains, (ii) identify the most profitable nodes of the coffee value chains and (iii) identify interventions for NAROsec and others to catalyze agro-industrialisation at profitable nodes of coffee value chain. Based on the above, Knowledge Wells Ltd was contacted by NAROsec to undertake a detailed desk research on coffee value chain Uganda to guide activity priorities.