Minister worried over low coffee production

Masaka.

The minister for Agriculture, Mr Vincent Sempijja, has expressed concern over failure by Ugandans to embrace coffee growing, which he said can drive many out of poverty.
According to Mr Sempijja, whereas government is promoting coffee growing through its programmes such as Operation Wealth Creation, there is little evidence that many farmers have embraced it.
“Buying the seedlings is not a problem to government and we shall always do so but the problem lies in how many farmers have prepared their gardens to plant the available seedlings,” he told taxi drivers in Masaka Town at the weekend.
The minister emphasised that coffee prices have gone up on the international market and it is high time Ugandan farmers grabbed the opportunity to scale up production.
Mr Sempijja added that whereas some people have ventured in production of coffee seedlings, which they in turn sell to government, there is still a wide gap.
He also said there is a lot of unutilised land in greater Masaka and other parts of the country, which could be used for intensive coffee production to supplement people’s incomes.
“As I travel all the way to Masaka and other parts of the country, I find bushes and thickets lying idle and I wonder whether the owners don’t know that they are neglecting treasure, which can turn around their livelihoods,” Mr Sempijja said.
Uganda currently exports at least 5m bags of coffee annually, earning about $550m (about Shs2 trillion) but the minister said government is looking forward to exporting at least 20m bags annually by 2020.
Mr Sempijja also slammed some local leaders whom he accused of sabotaging efforts aimed at improving the economy by demobilizing residents against well-intentioned government programmes and projects that rolled out to the community.
He, however, expressed concern over the prolonged drought coupled with pests and diseases that affect agricultural production in the country. “But we are doing everything possible to find a lasting solution to the drought,” he said.
“The ministry is currently working out on arrangements to procure enough excavators that will be used by farmers to dig valley dams for private farmers however at affordable expenses,” he added.