Coffee farmers forced to sleep in gardens as thieves wreak havoc

Coffee farmers in some parts of the country are being forced to sleep in gardens to ward off thieves who have put them on edge.

Mr Taddewo William Senyonyi, a journalist and coffee farmer residing in Kisojo village, Kasambya sub-county, Kakumiro District, said that last Wednesday he lost coffee berries to thieves for the second time in five years.

“The thieves struck last Wednesday night, possibly as it rained, taking 150kgs of red cherries, including unripe ones. I couldn’t use sniffer dogs because the scene had already been tampered with and the rain couldn’t help matters,” he said in a telephone interview on May 2.

“In 2019, they stole from me, and I caught them. They were neighbours, we quantified what had been stolen and I took a piece of their land. This time I want to capture them (thieves), take them to the court and face justice,” he says, adding that most coffee thieves are relatives, neighbours or workers.

Mr Senyonyi reasoned that most people especially the youth don’t want to plant coffee, saying it takes a long time to mature.

Solutions

Mr Senyonyi says people are currently sleeping outside their houses, in gardens; although for now, he has intensified intelligence.

“Some farmers, including my neighbours, have employed security guards,” he said.

The Kamuli District Production Officer, Mr Richard Musenero, says previously, sugarcane growing had negatively impacted on coffee farming, but with the rising prices, coffee is going to regain its traditional cash economy position.

The Monitor on Tuesday reported that farmers in different parts of the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief following an upsurge in coffee prices.

It was reported that currently, the farm gate price of a kilogramme of Robusta coffee (FAQ or Kase) costs Shs12500, up from Shs6,500 last year. The price increment has motivated the farmers to plant more coffee.

Figures from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) suggest that world coffee production for 2023-24 is forecast to reach 171.4 million bags, 6.9 million bags more than the previous year (164.5 million bags), with higher output in Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia.

According to Mr Musenero, over 700,000 coffee seedlings were supplied to farmers under the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) programme over the past four years, which was boosted by UCDA promotion of traditional coffee plantations with fertilizer supplies under their plantation rehabilitation programme, thus doubling production.

But for Mikairi Gwaivu, a 78-year-old coffee farmer in Kamuli District, fear is on the horizon for marauding youth who prowl the village at night picking coffee berries from gardens to sell.

“The coffee thieves even poisoned my security dog and I now occasionally hire a security guard with a bow and arrow. When the government under OWC were giving out seedlings, these rogues were busy playing Ludo and eating khat; now they are stealing our coffee,” he said.

In Bugaya sub-county, Buyende District, bizarre techniques are being adopted, including witchcraft, and placing pre-recorded sounds in scarecrows at different corners of the gardens during peak hours.

The Balawoli sub-county Internal Security Officer (GISO), Mr Mande Isabirye, urged residents to be vigilant and use mooted joint night patrols to safeguard farmers’ coffee.

He said a young man had been rescued from an angry mob after he brought coffee to sell yet residents knew that he had no garden from which he had harvested the crop.

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