Uganda

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About

A landlocked country in East Africa, Uganda consists of a Savannah plateau with mountains and lakes. It includes part of lake Victoria from which the Nile flows north-wards to Sudan. The climate is warm and humid.
Most people live in the southern half of the country. Agriculture dominates the economy. Coffee is the main export, followed by cotton and tea.

Both Arabica and Robusta

Uganda grows both major types of coffee, Arabica and Robusta. Eighty percent of the production however is Robusta. Arabica coffee is grown at altitudes of 1300-2300 metres above sea level either along the Kenyan border (Bugishu) or in the western montainous regions (Wugar). Robusta coffee grows at an altitude of 900-1500 metres in a radius around Lake Victoria as well as in the western regions.

Coffee facts

Crop Periods

Flowering Period

Main : From January until December ⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ About Flowering

Flowering occurs practically all year round, depending on the altitude and rainfall.

Harvesting Period

Main : From January until December (1)

⁽¹⁾ About Harvesting

Robusta harvest : practically all year round, peaks from October to February.
Arabica harvest : from September to February

Shipping Period

Main : From November until September ⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ About Shipping

Robusta : First shipment in January/February.
Arabica : Shipment spread troughout the year.

Transit Days

Port of Shipment	Imp.	EU	US
Mombasa ⁽¹⁾	90%	21	46
Dar-Es-Salaam	10%	26	47

⁽¹⁾About Mombasa

Kampala, due to its central location, is the regional hub for transport via Mombasa. The 200 kms of road between Kampala and the Kenyan border are done under intense traffic, very often over potholes and unpaved pieces, trucks race next to intersection local markets where villagers jump next to every slowing down vehicle trying to sell everything from soda, to bananas, to living poultry.

Countries of Export

1.Spain
2.Soudan
3.UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, The Netherlands

Coffee is Uganda's leading foreign exchange earner, accounting for nearly 65 per cent of all export earnings and is the major source of income for many Ugandans. Although its relative importance is decreasing due to the export diversification policy, coffee is and will remain for some time a major source of foreign exchange earnings in Uganda. The Sudanese market is a fast growing (neighbourging) export market. It accounts for at least 10% of the robusta crop.

Nice to know

Flowering and harvesting throughout the year depending on the region.

The arabica production is about 25% of the crop.

Arabica coffee is sourced direct from the farmers while robusta still has lot of middleman in between.

Farmers don’t use fertilizers because of the cost, reason why they can get organic certification easily by default. Yields are really low about 60 to 65% meaning production of 0.6 Kg of parchment per tree.

All the dry mills are located in Kampala. Washing stations built just in Paidha and Sipi regions. Mainly the wet process is done by farmers at the farm.

ICO Figures

Classifications

Varieties

Cafea Canephora (Robusta) around Masaka, Luwero, Kiboga and Mukono (Central region)

SL14 for Arabica

By region

Only in Arabica, regional distinctions are made:

Arabica grows mostly on the high slopes of Mount Elgon - to the East (the Sipi region), close to the Kenyan border - the Bugisu coffee;
and to the West alongside the mountain border with Congo, home to the Drugar and Wugar coffees.

By Grade

Arabica

AA	min. 90% milled above 17, max. 2% milled below 12
A	max. 10% milled above 17, max. 2% milled below 12
B	max. 10 % milled above 16, max. 2% milled below 12
C	max. 10% milled above 15, max. 5% milled below 12
PB	max. 5% milled above 16, max. 2% milled below 12
E	min. 85% milled above 19.5, max. 5% milled below 12

Robusta

Natural : Screen 18	min. 92% milled above 18, max. 1% milled below 12
Standard : screen 17	min. 90% milled above 17, max. 2% milled below 12
Screen 14	max. 5% milled above 15, max. 10% milled below 12
Screen 12	max. 13% milled above 15, max. 2% milled below 12
B.H.P.	type 1199 : sorting left-overs and small fragments usable type 1013 : husks, dust

Cupprofile

The Drugar is the most common arabica, natural, sun-dried typically on the patios’ floors by farmers themselves and then brought to small scale dry mills for hulling. The Drugar is characterised by strong winey cup. Of the various contradictory explanations, the common elements was that poor drying, leading to some extent of fermentation enables this cup profile.

Defects

Dry processed natural Robusta

Screen 18	dry processed Robusta coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints shall contain not more than 7% by weight of defective beans
Screen 15	dry processed Robusta coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints shall contain not more than 12% by weight of defective beans and not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have maximum moisture content of 12.5%
Screen 12	dry processed Robusta coffee beans shall contain not more than 20% of defective beans and not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter shall have maximum moisture content of 12.5%
BHP 1199	unwashed Robusta coffee beans mainly broken pieces shall have a maximum moisture content of 12.5%
BHP 1013	unwashed Robusta coffee beans mainly light, broken beans and chips equal to sample as approved by the Authority from time to time.
Black Beans	black and discoloured coffee beans separated from clean coffee electronically or by hand as approved by the Authority from time to time

Bugishu Washed Arabica
AA	washed Arabica coffee beans, heavy, solid and of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be free from extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
A	washed Arabica coffee beans, heavy, solid and of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
PB	washed peaberry Arabica coffee beans, fully formed, sound, heavy, solid and of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
B	washed Arabica coffee beans, heavy, solid and of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
C	washed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
E	washed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, in size larger and in weight heavier than type AA, the formation of which during growth has been composed of two beans fitting into each other, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
UG	washed Arabica coffee beans equal to sample as approved from time to time by the Authority
Wugar Washed Arabica
A	washed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be free from extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
B	washed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be free from extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
C	washed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be free from extraneous matter, shall not include any coffee beans other than washed Arabica unless the beans are counted and included as damaged in the established scale of defects, under the category of damaged, and do not exceed 1% by strict count, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
D	washed Arabica coffee beans, evaluated at minus sixty-one or below on the established chart of values
Drugar Unwashed Arabica
A	unwashed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be evaluated at between plus forty and minus twenty five on the established chart values, shall be free from extraneous matter, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
B	unwashed Arabica coffee beans of good appearance for the grade, free from all traces of fermentation, mustiness and other undesirable smells and taints, shall be evaluated at minus twenty six and minus sixty on the established chart values, shall be free from extraneous matter unwashed Arabica unless the beans are counted, and included as damaged in the established scale of defects, under the category of damaged, and do not exceed 1% by strict count, shall have a maximum moisture content of 12%
C	unwashed Arabica coffee beans, evaluated at between minus sixty-one or below on the established chart values, shall contain not more than one-tenth of 1% by weight of extraneous matter, shall not include coffee beans other than unwashed Arabica exceeding 1% by strict count
Triage	washed/unwashed Arabica coffee beans, mainly broken pieces equal to sample as approved from time to time by the Authority

Typical Description

Uganda Robusta screen 12

Processing

Picking	selectively by hand
Washing	Dry (for Robusta) and wet (for Arabica) method are used
Fermentation	Arabica: 12-36 hours
Drying	In the sun on the ground or on stagings.
Sorting	mechanical & electronic

⁽¹⁾ About Washing

Today almost all Robusta is sold as natural - that is, dry processed, except for very small amounts which are washed. A major program has recently started to promote production of washed Robusta. Among the arabicas the Wugar and Bugisu variety is fully washed and the Drugar is dry-processed.

Coffee Environment

In 1991 the government of Uganda liberalised the entire coffee sub-sector in order to maximise the volume and unit value of export. This was done through the scrapping of the external marketing monopoly of the Coffee Marketing Board (CMB); and the establishment of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) in 1991. The UCDA took over the regulatory and supervisory role of the entire coffee industry, while the marketing was totally liberalised. Private companies exist parallel to co-operative involvement. Growers, buyers, processors, and exporters are free to contract as they please.

Uganda's coffee producers comprise about one million smallholders. The smallholdings vary in size, and the average smallholding is about 0.3 hectares.

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