In western Uganda, the washed robusta coffee project

Coffee evangelist David Muwonge could not miss coming to the very green Bushenyi area of western Uganda where Mr. Cyprian Bangirana, a Kagango community leader and to whom our respectful greetings go, is one of the supporters of the washed robusta coffee production project.

Bushenyi: Kagango, Kyangyenyi, Nyabubare.

Bushenyi district is home to the Banyonkore ethnic group, which is divided into the Bairu (Banyankore farmer), Banyaruru and Batagwenda (immigrants from the Buganda Kingdom) and the Bahororo. The region is famous for intensive cattle breeding, which is currently undergoing a transition from the local multipurpose breed (low-yielding milk, good-quality beef) to the high-yielding dairy variety, from the nomadic pastoralist and free-range farming to the paddock and zero grazing farming system.
Bushenyi district is blessed with rich soils and the farmers have helped their rejuvenation using organic manure in form of mulch, use of digested cow-dung and urine, after getting biogas from the system. The district receives a lot of rainfall compared to any other region of the country, but, because of its proximity to the Great Western Rift Valley, the high temperatures in the dry season are among the hottest in the country. Farmers have been therefore trained in water harvesting technologies to reduce soil erosions and landslides during the rainy season while using organic manures and shade trees to extend the crop life throughout the dry spells.
The NUCAFE gender program made its difference in a district where coffee has long been categorized as being the man’s crop and banana the woman’s crop. The normal situation was that in periods of abundant production of coffee, some men would take on another wife and the existing wives, in order to avoid that risk, would destroy the coffee harvest. After the completion of the trial phase of the gender program, men and women are working not only together in the gardens, but also during the sales.
Coffee farmers have done a lot of lobbying and advocacy for their member groups and farmers, thanks to the pieces of training that they’ve got from being part of NUCAFE and its collaborations. Now at least 50% of the groups in this district under NUCAFE have a hand pulper for wet processing coffee and community-based nurseries support from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and the National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) alike.

Kagango CFA is located 40 km from Mbarara on the Mbarara-Ishaka highway. Its location on both sides of the road provides access to the main road, fuel, coffee plucking, and wet coffee processing. This part of Bushenyi is mainly occupied by the Bairu group. They are people characterized by very muscular bodies, which they say was the advantage that led this part of the district to be the leading sub-region in coffee and banana production.
Through the guidance of ASPS-DANIDA, the Kagango CFA has succeeded in creating a state-of-the-art café and nurseries. Through these nurseries, members of coffee farmers’ associations and groups can purchase coffee seedlings at a lower price. These actions helped repopulate areas that had been devastated by coffee disease (CWD) and also increase the amount of coffee produced in the region. On the other hand, it has also enabled the association to generate funds for the sustainability of the association itself and for the coffee nursery and an increase in farmers’ membership subscriptions to the groups and then to the association. The shade trees that have grown in the nursery are given free of charge to coffee farmers who have bought robusta coffee seedlings in order to increase shade-grown coffee, cultivated forests and timber in the district.

Legal Status	washed robusta coffee farmers association
Location	Bushenyi District Kagango S/County
Coordinates	0° 32′ 7″ S 30° 9′ 0.18″ E

Kyangyenyi CFA is located 10 km from the Kabwohe trading center, away from the Mbarara-Ishaka highway. The association is located on a large hill commonly referred to as Kyangyenyi Mountain. The soils in this location are very rocky and dry, making cultivation difficult. Raising livestock is also difficult because the animals cannot move easily on the steep slopes of the hill. There is a high runoff speed and many cases of deep erosion. However, the farmers in this area are motivated enough to react to these difficulties.
After the bad experience with various NGOs that had robbed them of their money under the pretext of offering them loans later, the association decided to create a credit cooperative (Sacco) and personally contributed. Their village bank is now the only one offering banking services to all the schools around and offering loans to various individuals. Coffee farmers are offered loans at a far lower rate compared to other individuals. Checks are carried out to ensure that those who say they are coffee farmers really are.
A soil erosion control program has been initiated by the head of the agricultural sub-region, but because the sub-region is so large, it has been really difficult to implement. Therefore, it connected with the association and group leaders and now the program is going on smoothly; the officer also adopted this format and extended it to Kyabugimbi, which later also became a member of NUCAFE. The key issue of the program is the creation of pastures and the use of terracing to control water speed, and so is the use zero tillage farming system.

Legal Status	washed robusta coffee farmers association
Location	Bushenyi District Kyangyenyi S/County
Coordinates	0° 30′ 59″ S 30° 19′ 59″ E

Nyabubare ACE is a cooperative that having heard about the services offered by NUCAFE, decided to join the organization. Initially many misunderstandings arose among the farmers who were already very tired of the poor services provided by the cooperative; one of the main misunderstandings had been that NUCAFE was a competing organization that had come into contact with the sole purpose of disorganizing their cooperative. However, when NUCAFE met with key staff of the organization they agreed and became partners. Through the services provided by NUCAFE’s cooperative, Nyabubare came back to life, and like NUCAFE the cooperative is using coffee as a starting point to address the challenges that most of its members face.

Legal Status	washed robusta coffee farmers association
Location	Bushenyi District Nyabubare S/County
Coordinates	0° 16′ 33″ N, 32° 26′ 26″ E