The Producers

The “Upper Bulambuli Old Persons Coffee Growers’ Association”. The association was established in 2018 by a group of retired civil servants with the intention to secure their livelihoods through coffee farming. The association has 35 member families and a board that comprises the chairman, the secretary, a treasurer and a loan officer. A portion of their sales is kept to offer loans to members who want to develop their businesses, such as planting cash crops like onions, Irish potatoes, matooke etc. All of them have coffee farms as the main source of income. The farms are located in Upper Bulambuli District in the Mount Elgon region at an altitude of 2,000 – 2,100 m.a.s.l. The families usually keep 2-3 cows for milk as well as goats and chicken for manure which they use as fertilizer in the farms, in addition to other waste products. Bariguna is encouraging them to improve coffee processing in order to reach the required standard to qualify for specialty coffee.

The “Bunabude Coffee Growers Association” are a small group of some 40 coffee farmer families in Bulambuli district. They have their farms at an altitude between 1,900 and 2,100 m, inherited partly from their parents and grandparents. The older generation planted mainly “Nyasaland” coffee, a variety introduced in colonial times and the current farmers have added the predominant improved varieties SL 14 and 28 and produce a washed Arabica processed at their homes.

The “Kalaa Mugosi Women's Empowerment Association” is a small local organization set up to promote women’s empowerment through coffee farming. Kalaa Mugosi means “breaking the ropes” in Bugisu language and is helping women to sever the ropes of poverty and dependence through coffee. While most of their coffees are sold to an international company, Bariguna has started this relationship with a focus on specialty coffee micro-lots which will fetch a better price for the farmers. The farms are located at the slopes of Zesui mountain at altitudes between 1,750 and 2,100 m.a.s.l. and the varietal here is predominantly Nyasaland which was introduced during colonial times and only later replaced by SL 14 and 28. Many of these farms are extremely remote and the coffee cherries have to be carried first on the head to the nearest trading centre before they are transported on motorbikes to the compound of Kalaa Mugosi. There they are carefully hand-sorted and dried in a “solar dryer”, a greenhouse that allows for constant temperature and protection from the seasonal rains. Kalaa Mugosi was among the top 5 in the annual “Best of the Pearl” award by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority in 2022 and the founder, Sandra has obtained an award as one of Uganda’s young women entrepreneurs from the German Cooperation.

“The Coffee Yard” is a small company located in Mbale, established by a group of women with technical and management support by Norman Mukuru in 2018. Norman has been working in the coffee industry for 15 years, first as a quality consultant and sourcing officer for a big company, before establishing his own business together with a women’s empowerment association. TCY is led by two women directors and a management board comprising 75% women. TCY builds on the experience of its members and an extensive network of farmers who are selected based on their farm management and good agricultural practices. TCY sources coffee cherries from these farms and transports them to its processing station in Sironko, a town in the plains where weather conditions are less harsh than in the mountains and thus more conducive to a smooth drying process. In the tertiary processing station in Mbale, the team led by Maria Kirya, the board member in charge of quality control, cups and analyses the coffees in order to produce the specific profile customers are looking for. The station is now equipped with a color sorter in order to produce the optimal quality of selected beans for its clients.

The “Mount Elgon Women in Specialty Coffee” is a women-led association and was established in 2015 by Christine Atieno Muga as the CEO. Their main objective is to secure their livelihoods and enable an independent income through coffee farming. The association has 50 member families and a board that comprises the chairlady, the secretary, a treasurer and a loan officer. The farms are located in Buginyanya parish, Masira Sub-County in the Bulambuli District in the Mount Elgon region at an altitude of 1,800 – 2,100 m.a.s.l. The association trains their members to improve farm management from the planting of seedlings to soil conservation, production and use of organic fertilizer, to post-harvest handling. MEWSC also produces roasted coffee for the local market and Christine works as an extension officer coffee for an international NGO that promotes ecological methods in coffee farming. The association ensures that all members follow a common protocol in harvest and post-harvest management in order to produce a consistent quality of specialty coffee.