ORIGIN

Coffee is Uganda’s leading export crop, contributing significantly to the economy and is vital to the livelihoods of nearly two million people who directly or indirectly coffee rely on coffee farming. The country is the sixth-largest coffee producer globally and has emerged as Africa’s top exporter of coffee in recent years after enjoying sustained investment and growth. The country enjoys a very favourable climate for coffee production and benefits from high altitudes, ample rainfall and nutrient-rich volcanic soils. The landlocked country produced more than six million 60-kilogram bags last year.

Most of Uganda’s coffee is the indigenous species C. Canephora (Robusta) which grows wild around Lake Victoria and accounts for 80% of the country’s overall production. However, the demand and need for the diversification into the cultivation of Arabica varieties (SL14, SL28, Nyasaland amongst others) is growing as the sector introduces more sustainable practices with a focus on raising both volume and quality. Specifically, this lot has been harvested by smallholder producers on the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains in eastern equatorial Africa, located on the border between…