Funding outlined for USAID’s Ugandan investment

Some further details have come to light regarding USAID’s substantial investment in the Ugandan coffee industry.

The deposit will be managed by  the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises (more commonly known as NUCAFE) and is part of the US Government’s Feed the Future campaign.

According to some recently published reports, the impending influx of money is will be used in a number of different ways, with everything from domestic promotional campaigns aimed at improving awareness about the drink and potential careers, right the way through to funding investments in farming practices and machinery falling under the outlined remit.

Joseph Nkandu, a NUCAFE executive director, believes this enterprise should benefit, and reach, some 700,000 small-scale farmers, many of whom will receive additional training and be introduced to different agricultural practices.

This comes at a welcome time for the entire Ugandan coffee industry as production levels have diminished in recent years, thanks to falling international prices, a competitive global market and numerous pest attacks which have scythed down crops and hampered yields.

Speaking during an event that was held in Kampala to promote this union, Leslie Reed, a USAID mission director, stressed that the policy had to be implemented properly for it to succeed; pointing out that a continued failure to involve the next generation properly would set the country’s coffee industry back decades.

Whilst Reed’s words may have been critical of recent failings, her statement echoes one made by Nkandu earlier this year.

At the same function, Vincent Ssempijja, the State Minister for Agriculture, admitted that previous harvests had been tough, but the government was looking at ways to help the farmers bounce back from their recent hardships. President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to see 100 million brand new coffee seedlings planted in the next three years, an initiative which, it is hoped, should see production levels triple.