Last week I was in Kabale for a meeting with a\nconservation trust, and while I was there, I took the opportunity to do some\ngorilla trekking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had last seen the gorillas over twenty years ago so\nI thought I would renew their acquaintance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gorilla permit for non-Ugandans is $600, but for\nUgandans it goes for only 250,000 shillings, yet very few Ugandans have actually\navailed of this opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most Ugandans don\u2019t see the point of paying money and\nclimbing up and down mountains to see an animal, which they can see on\ntelevision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the gorillas are one of the main attractions\nfor foreign tourists. Mountain gorillas can only be seen in the corner of the\nworld where Congo, Uganda and Rwanda meet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
People cannot cross into Congo and the gorilla permit\nin Rwanda is more than twice the price of Uganda, so most tourists come to\nUganda. Mountain Gorillas are a major selling point for Uganda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another commodity, which is extremely important for\nour economy is coffee, but one hardly sees Ugandan coffee on the shelves of\nsupermarkets outside Uganda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have done my own research and while one can find\ncoffee from Kenya, Rwanda and Columbia it is rare to see Ugandan coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is because 80% of the coffee we produce is low\ngrade Robusta which is used to make instant coffee and for blends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other 20% is Arabica grown on the slopes of Mount\nElgon or the Rwenzoris. The Arabica commands higher prices, but is not yet well\nknown globally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Practically all the coffee produced in Uganda is by\nsmallholder farmers; there is little estate coffee, unlike Kenya. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our farmers pick the coffee, dry it on the ground and\nsell it to the coffee mill, which hulls it and sells it on to middlemen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These traders sell it to the big coffee factories,\nwhich clean it, grade it and export it. For smallholder\u2019s coffee is a cash crop\nthat doesn\u2019t require much work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When one picks coffee, one is supposed to pick only\nthe ripe red berries, but many farmers strip the whole branch including berries\nthat are still green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it is dried on the ground, it all turns dark\nbrown so one cannot tell which was good coffee and which was unripe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most small coffee farmers also don\u2019t prune the bushes\nbecause they would lose a harvest that year and they don\u2019t apply fertilizer,\nbut the result is that the yield per tree is low. The net result is low yields\nand poor-quality coffee, for which he gets a low price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past three years I have planted a fairly\nlarge area of Robusta coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since I am a complete novice, I got professional\nadvice from UCDA and from a large commercial plantation \u2013 Kaweri, in Mubende. I\nwas shown the correct agronomy, sold good quality clones and given the basic\neducation as a new coffee farmer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The result was that this year I harvested quality\ncoffee for which I was paid a premium. UCDA can carry out \u2018cup testing\u2019 by\nwhich they grade the flavor, and quality of the coffee and my coffee tested\nwell, but I then went further and roasted and packaged some coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was essentially to test the market, since this is\nRobusta, which is often thought to be undrinkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I posted a picture of the coffee on Facebook and the\nresponse was overwhelming. I think this is because people are tired of negative\nstuff about Uganda and want to see something positive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I then took the coffee to a coffee shop to make me a\ncappuccino \u2013 which was very good. I also tried a filter coffee, which was also\ngood. I am a coffee drinker and have been drinking Ugandan Arabica coffee for\nyears. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is very mild, sometimes too mild, but the Robusta\nhas more caffeine and can give you a buzz. It is a bit rougher than the\nArabica, but very flavoursome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, I am on a mission to popularize Ugandan coffee\ndrinking, particularly Robusta, or at least a mixture of Robusta and Arabica,\nwhich makes wonderful coffee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this journey I am learning a lot. The first is that\nsmallholder farmers need to improve their agronomic and harvesting practices so\nthat they get good quality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second is that Ugandan Robusta can be good\nquality, especially when mixed with Arabica. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I don\u2019t really see why Kenyan coffee should be\nfamous, but no one has ever heard of Ugandan coffee. Let\u2019s make Ugandan coffee\nas famous as our mountain gorillas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n