Ugandan company partners with Starbucks to market Uganda coffee
Kawacom, one of Uganda’s leading exporting companies, has partnered with Starbucks to sell Uganda’s coffee in all its outlets in the United States. This development which started in May this year is set to benefit close to 6,000 farmers.
Kawacom is supplied Starbucks with its Sipi Falls brand which is being sold as single-origin beans. Ideally single-origin coffee beans have a distinct flavor because they are cultivated from one geographical location, which has a unique climate, elevation and soil conditions. Speaking to Daily Monitor, Mr Thomas Delbar, Commercial Manager Kawacom, said in May this year they sent a 19.2 Metric tons of coffee.
Mr Delbar shares: “Our arrangement was made in one of Starbucks’ special programme which deals with specialty coffees in which they buy limited volumes which they package and send to their shops across the globe”. He added that because of Kawacom’s long relationship with Starbucks that’s how Sipi Falls brand was spotted.
Mr Delbar said after Starbucks received Sipi Falls coffee they roasted, tested, liked it, packed and distributed it to all their outlets in the US and some of their online subscribers.
“Judging from the responses, we have a good reason to believe that the future is bright because of this deal,” Delbar said.
Farmers
In Uganda, Kawacom is working close to 6,000 smallholder farmers who basically grow what you would call garden coffee. They are the ones who supply them with the Sipi Falls coffee from the Mountain Elgon region. However not every farmer does supply but only those who are certified, with the Organic rain forest and UTZ certification a process which Kawacom helps them with.
These farmers are paid a premium price which is 30 per cent above the market value at that time. So what this means to Uganda as the leading exporter in Africa, second producer and World’s seventh producer is that this is good example that we can make it if value chain is followed.
“Respecting standards along the value chain means that there is better life out of coffee,” Delbar said.
Reactions
National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises (Nucafe)’s Executive Director Mr Joseph Nkandu shares: “This is something which has just started and we are yet to see its impact on the farmers”.
Nkandu adds that the concern to farmers is that Starbucks is still sourcing coffee from the international intermediaries and not doing it directly from farmers who grow and tend to coffee beans.
Starbucks coming on board is a welcome gesture but already they as farmers are working directly with some buyers who are giving them a better deal like Café Rivers of Italy, Café Direct-UK roasters and another importing company.
Mr David Barry Managing Director Kyagalanyi Coffee- said: “We do think it’s great that Uganda washed Arabica is being favoured more and more by roasters and consumers around the world – everyone involved in improving and paying attention to quality is doing a great service to the Ugandan coffee industry. Overall it’s extremely good news for the whole industry”.
Coffee in Uganda
Uganda is one of the world’s major Robusta producers. Some Arabica is also grown in different highland areas of the country, most notably on the slopes of Mount Elgon on the border with Kenya and on the slopes of the Mount Rwenzori, popularly known as the ‘mountains of the moon’ on the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Some Arabica coffee is also grown in the West Nile region in north western part of the country.
Production averaged almost 3.3 million bags in the six years from 1996 to 2001, with a peak of 4.2 million bags in 1996/7 (a total last seen in 1972) and a low of 2.0 million in 2005/6.
Currently this has somehow gone down to 2.9 million bags because of the wilt disease.
The proportion of Arabica coffee fluctuates from around 8 to 10 per cent of the total. Local consumption is limited at around 3% of production.
Most Robusta is sun-dried although in recent years there have been modest attempts to reintroduce wet-processing. These interventions are on-going today, under the aegis of the UCDA.
In the early 1960’s the Uganda coffee industry produced close to 25,000 tonnes of good quality pulped and washed Robusta but this segment vanished entirely during the monopoly years, together with the plantation sector that supported it. It is estimated that today there are about 500,000 small farms of varying sizes that grow at least some coffee.
