By: Morrision Rwakakamba
UCDA is a creation of the NRM government. All its successes and weaknesses should be attributed to the NRM government. If the same government has new ways of removing inefficiencies and expanding efficiencies through the rationalization of UCDA, why not trust it?
Those opposed to @NRMOnline should not hide under the rationalization of UCDA! They should be bold and say that under the NRM government, coffee has declined (quantity, quality, and value); therefore, let us remove (vote out) the NRM government for failing us on coffee! I would respect such a group, such an argument.
Here is the problem for such a group: this argument can’t be made because they all see that the trend line of coffee in Uganda is pointing skyward. Volumes continue to increase (from 2 million bags in the early 1990s to now 9 million bags), quality is improving to the extent that last season, the farm-gate price for Kiboko was 8,000 to 9,000 shillings a kg.
Uganda’s coffee market is surging, and as the coffee is also blending with other global coffees, value addition efforts are rising, with primary coffee processing factories all over Uganda and major last-mile coffee processing factories shaping up.
How can some people I hear on the radio continue to argue that President @KagutaMuseveni is going to harvest and take their coffee? I think the agency of Uganda’s coffee farmers and value chain actors should be respected. Morrison Rwakakamba.
