Episode #006: Coffee Origin: Uganda commentary Part 2

The Kisinga Coffee station in western Uganda is operating in a very unique way. Opening the channels of trade to many of the smallholder farmers in the Rwenzori Mountains.

One of the remarkable things about the coffee station at Kisinga is the way they do trade with the hundreds of farmers in the region, and open up the doorway to the commercial market. This is all executed with such precision and integrity.
Most of the coffee grown in the region, is being grown in their back gardens. There is no large coffee business or farm. It’s people, like you or me who live and mostly have other jobs or livelihoods and have in their gardens a load of coffee trees.
Mbata in the Rwenzori mountains, is a great example. This is a community three hours by road away from the coffee station, yet during picking season, they will be picking freshly ripe coffee cherries daily. To ensure the quality is kept high, the washing station has build and given to the local community a buying station open all day every day. This station means people can turn up at a time convenient to them, with their fresh cherries, and these are laid out on the drying racks immediately (so they don’t ferment in sacks). The farmer is paid in cash a really good rate for the coffee as the coffee is being picked on time and is being grown at a good altitude, so will reach a premium once processed.

It is refreshing to see a coffee station working for the community. Not with any long term commitments or expensive tie-ins. It is always optional to sell to the buying stations. But the station will pay in cash every time and keep receipts for every transaction.

People in the area, like Amon in Mbata has said this extra money has meant he can send his kids to school.