Uganda – Ucda will plant 20 million seedlings every year

Kampala – Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has said it will will plant about 20 million coffee annualy seedlings to replace the coffee trees that succumbed to the Coffee Wilt Disease that attacked the crop 10 years ago. The initiative will start this financial year. Community-based coffee nurseries have been developed to supply farmers with seedlings all year round.

UCDA’s managing director Henry Ngabirano said that through this programme Uganda intends to revive annual exportable production of 4.5m (60 kilo bags) by 2015.

He said the only way to boost the coffee sector is through replanting and rehabilitation of the existing coffee trees, with emphasis on good agricultural practices.

According to Ngabirano UCDA has initiated a programme to demonstrate the benefits of rehabilitating the old coffee shambas, by setting up 600 rehabilitation demonstration farms in every sub-county in the coffee-growing districts.

UCDA and Café Africa, after consultations with industry stakeholders, have also launched a campaign to stimulate farmers’ interest in coffee production and to bring the youth on board.

The campaign, which addresses research, extension services, farming inputs and credit as means of increasing productivity is rife in Masaka, Mukono, Luweero, Kapchorwa, Manafwa, Mbale, Kasese, Bushenyi, Rukungiri and Kanungu districts.

Source: AllAfrica