New coffee model to benefit farmers

Coffee farmers will benefit from a new model – ‘Farmer Ownership Model’ that seeks to change the role of the middlemen as well as increase their percentage share in the value retention.

The model championed by a coffee social entrepreneur, Mr Joseph Nkandu, seeks to uplift farmers’ household incomes as well as fighting poverty.

Coffee farmers in Uganda get less than 2 per cent of the crop’s retail value, which leaves them trapped in the poverty cycle.

Uganda is the second largest producer of coffee in Africa after Ethiopia; however, the crop’s production has been experiencing some volatiles in terms of volumes and quality.

This has thus prompted stakeholders to devise means through which they can renergise the crop’s production in the country.

According to Mr Nkandu, the new model is able to redefine the role of farmer organisations, which transforms them into partners working with the ordinary man to increase shared value.

The government has through various innovations tried to fairly reward farmers’ participation in the coffee value chain; however, it has not ably come up with measure that benefit farmers.

A number of stakeholders recently developed a National Coffee Policy as one on the means that seeks to give coffee farming a new approach as the crop continues to face new challenges.

The National Coffee Policy formulation was according to Mr Nkandu funded by Danida and aBi Trust.

The proposal for the policy was developed by Nucafe and supported by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority and the ministry of Agriculture.

The policy formulation cast Mr Nkandu as an advocate for a linkup between farmers and buyers, which won him an Ashoka Fellowship, one of the most prestigious recognitions for social entrepreneurs.

Ashoka, with headquarters in Washington, is the one of the World’s leading network of social entrepreneurs that rewards extraordinary ideas with the capacity to cause social change.

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