Targets may not be met, NUCAFE member says
With a couple of weeks left until the coffee season in Uganda shuts down, some new predictions have estimated that the country will see a slight increase in production levels this year.
The report, drawn up by the Ugandan Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) expects that coffee harvests will rise by 1.44% and that there will also be a marginal growth in profits by 0.75%. Both are year-on-year figures.
“Coffee exports for the period September 2013 to August 2014 totalled 3.52 million bags worth $394 million,” the documented noted before going on to state that: “[T]his indicates a slight increase from the [what was] earned in the same period last year.”
Domestically however, that news has been met some some reservations – most noticeably from members of the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE)
“This country may not meet 3.12 million bags,” said Joseph Nkandu, a director of NUCAFE and one of the biggest names to question whether or not the figures released by the UCDA are overly optimistic.
He has good reason to question the statistics.
“[Uganda was] hit by a prolonged drought between December and January and this,” he states, “affected the yields.”
Nkandu also provided the local press with another reason or two as to why he believes the estimates are out.
Earlier on in the year there was an outbreak of the Black Twig Borer (Xylosandrus compactus), the effects of which are still being felt in the region.
However the NUCAFE director isn’t all doom and gloom, in fact he does remain hopeful that targets can be met – but only if the current wet weather sticks around.
Some of the largest coffee growing areas in the country have been subjected to some heavy downpours as of late.
If the weather remains as it is then Nkandu believes that the yields could well recover in time.
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