Coffee dis-eases have become rampant in the long dry period. PHOTO | MICHAEL J SSALI
The severe drought period that Masaka sub-region has gone through in the past two months has caused a lot of fear and panic among coffee farmers and traders.
There has been marked increased interest among farmers in growing coffee following the high prices that the crop attracted last year. Today the price for one kilogramme of FAQ (kase) Robusta coffee is Shs16,000, which makes coffee farming a very lucrative business.
The prices started rising some three or four years ago and a lot of land has been cleared for planting coffee and more and more people are abandoning other economic activities to concentrate more on coffee farming.
The severe drought that has hit the region has however caused a lot of fear among the farmers who have watched their investment collapsing under the scorching sun and rising temperatures. Masaka sub-region produces Robusta coffee and thousands of homesteads in the sub-region entirely depend on the crop for income.
Massive losses
At the time of writing this article, thousands of farmers in the districts of Lwengo, Rakai, Kyotera, Lyantonde, Kalungu, Masaka, Kalangala, and Bukomansimbi have undergone massive economic losses as a result of the long drought, particularly those whose coffee trees are under four years old. Most of the coffee trees have wilted and have suffered a lot of physiological issues such as flower abortion, and premature ripening.
There has also been an increased attack of pests such as coffee twig borer and attacks of different Robusta coffee diseases such as coffee leaf rust. Experts in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries agree that climate change is responsible for the ongoing warming of the earth due to the emission of greenhouse gases and apart from experiencing long droughts the country is set to undergo extreme weather conditions, like erratic rainfall patterns, floods, and hailstorms, among others.
Each one of the hazards has its own negative impact on the production of the coffee crop, according to the Robusta Coffee Handbook prepared by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (Maaif).
High temperatures
According to the handbook, intermittent drought causes increased non-uniformity flowering and ripening, increased disease incidences, and irregular bean development. High temperatures lead to physiological effects, increased pests like coffee berry borer and increased disease attacks such as coffee leaf rust.
Heavy rain, hail, and strong winds damage coffee trees, cause fruit fall, mould growth, soil erosion and landslides. Prolonged rain leads to delayed flowering, delayed ripening of coffee, and favours development of fungal diseases. The prolonged dry period has paused a big challenge to all coffee stakeholders. It means the harvests are bound to be problematic. A lot of farmers will end up with low density, small sized, coffee fruits that ripened prematurely. Buyers only want well developed and well dried coffee beans. Some farmers have taken the trouble to carry out irrigation and they expect good harvests.
The farmers with older coffee trees, particularly those who practiced water infiltration techniques, are also likely to have normal harvests. However many other farmers had no chance to do irrigation and their prematurely ripened coffee beans may be purchased by fraudulent traders which will compromise the overall quality of the country’s crop on the international market.
It was such issues that prompted Shaffic Ssenyimba, Agricultural Engineer in charge of Coffee Technical Activities in Greater Masaka under MAAIF to organize a meeting of all coffee stakeholders in the region on March 6 2025 to discuss ways to address coffee quality improvement strategies ahead of the main harvest season expected to begin next month.
Planting right seedlings
Mr Musisi Ssebatta, a leading coffee nursery operator in the region, told the meeting that good quality coffee production begins with planting the right seedlings. “Many farmers make the mistake of going to the wrong places to procure planting material and they end up regretting. It is important to go to only the MAAIF certified nursery beds.”
He expressed regret that there are so many bogus coffee nurseries selling the wrong coffee breeds to farmers who realize only too late that they planted the wrong coffee varieties which are low yielding and prone to the deadly coffee wilt disease. He advised new coffee farmers to begin with planting in stages by planting one small area after another with the seedlings that they can afford instead of rushing to plant wide areas and planting cheap, poor quality seedlings. “If anybody wants to operate a coffee nursery, it is important that he or she begins with training and obtaining a licence.”
Mr Robert Ssentamu, Senior Agricultural Officer in Bukomansimbi District warned farmers to always have the soil on their farms tested before they apply any fertilisers. “Don’t use fertilizer because another farmer used it and had good yields,” he told the meeting. “The soil nutrition requirements in your area could be different.”
He also emphasised the importance of good seed selection and good agronomic practices such as digging trenches across the farm to trap rainwater run-off on farms located on steep slopes. He further advised farmers to trim the coffee trees regularly to avoid unnecessary water loss.
“Climate change effects are not about to end and all coffee farmers must consider preserving water sources like swamps from which they can pump water for irrigation. They must also consider mining underground water as another strategy for successful growing of coffee in dry conditions. The quality of your coffee is judged according to the size of the beans, their colour, and smell all of which cannot be achieved without feeding the coffee trees well.”
Post-harvest handling
Shaffic Ssenyimba warned farmers to stop drying coffee on the bare ground as the practice introduces strange smells and foreign objects into the crop and compromise its quality. He also said farmers should obtain solar dryers for them to quickly achieve the required coffee dryness of at least 14 percent moisture content.
He said he was aware that because of prolonged rainfall periods it is often hard to avoid coffee moulding and the use of solar dryers would be helpful. He insisted that all owners of coffee hulling machines would face strict supervision to ensure they don’t buy poorly dried coffee. He told farmers to save money for buying what he referred to as micro scale irrigation systems to guard against severe drought periods like the ones they are going through now. He also told the farmers to comply with all government requirements such as having their gardens registered.
Mr Denis Mukasa of Masaka Branch Centenary Bank told coffee traders and farmers the importance of paying their customers through the bank. “It is simple,” he said.
“Encourage all of them to open up bank accounts and authorize the bank to deposit all their dues on their respective accounts. You can also use the bank to help you transfer or transport large amounts of money to your work places if you really insist on paying cash to your customers and employees.”
He further revealed that there is money in Centenary Bank to lend out to farmers intending to install irrigation systems on their farms which they can take advantage of.
