Ministry of Agriculture invests Shs 8.5 billion to promote coffee fertilizers
HOIMA – Ministry of Agriculture through Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) have launched a campaign to rejuvenateold coffee plantations in Bunyoro region through supplying fertilizers to registered farmers.
The campaign was on Wednesday launched by the State Minister for Animal Industry and Fisheries, Lt. Col Bright Rwamirama in Kyesiga village, Bujumbura ward, Hoima west division in Hoima city.
Dr. Emmanuel Lyamulemye Niyibigira, the Managing Director UCDA explained that the initiative is aimed at prompting coffee stumping in the region.
According to him, coffee stumping is the practice of rejuvenating older coffee trees by cutting all their main stems, to encourage new growth.
He said that when a farmer stumps his or her coffee plantation and applies fertilizers, its productivity triples. Lyamulemye also said, there are 2.2 million coffee trees but these trees are no longer productive because they are too old.
Lyamulemye added that under this initiative, UCDA will distribute 67,000 bags of organic fertilizers worth Shs 8.5 billion to 45,000 registered organic coffee farmers.
He challenged the coffee farmers to embrace organic fertilizers if their coffee is to meet world market standards in USA, Europe, Austria and New Zealand among others.
“We are giving out fertilizers to farmers to demonstrate that when you have stumped your coffee and you use organic fertilizers, you can increase productivity per tree, three to four times and that translates to money,” he said.
In his speech during the launch for fertilizers distribution campaign, Rwamirama noted that as the sector targets to increase coffee production from 8 million to 9 million kilograms, the initiative will help the farmers and the government to achieve this desire.
He called on the farmers to focus on modern farming to ensure that they increase the productivity of coffee through using fertilizers, planting quality coffee seedlings and seeking advice from the extension workers.
He explained that the usage of fertilizers among the coffee farmers is still low adding that as the farmers get introduced to fertilizer usage, there is a need to guide on how to apply it.
With the sector expecting targets to increase coffee production in 2021, the Ministry is focusing on increased production through effective disease control; promotion of smart economic practices, market access promotion and inspection certification, these priority areas will go a long way in enabling the farming community and government to achieve the desired transformation to commercials agriculture.
However, he challenged the extension workers to embark on their role of supervising farmers adding that it has been observed that extension workers are no longer doing their work as expected, yet they are being paid by the government to do this job.
He also advised that as they advocate for increased coffee productivity, farmers and leaders should prioritize the issues of post-harvest handling to ensure quality.
“When you produce, you must make sure that you harvest properly, when you have harvested properly, you must make sure that you dry coffee properly so that it is not contaminated and when you have harvested properly then you must store it properly, ready for market,” he said.
Isaiah Biingi, the Chairman Kyabigambire Coffee Farmers Association, commended the government for supporting them. Biingi said, coffee pests and diseases such as coffee wilt disease (tracheomycosis) and Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR), coffee berry borer or coffee borer beetle and the absence of extension workers are some of the challenges affecting coffee farmers in the region.
He further explained that pesticides are very expensive for the farmers and called on the government to intervene and get them subsidised pesticides.
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