Come learn more on coffee and cocoa 

THEME: Climate Smart Farming

ENTERPRISES: Coffee, banana and cocoa 

TOPICS: Seeds and varieties, pests and disease handling, post-harvest handling and value addition

VENUE: National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI), Mukono 

ENTRANCE: Free

Trainers: Dr Pascal Musoli – breeding, Godfrey Sseremba – coffee, Daphne Bitalo – cocoa, Charles Halerimana – post harvest management, Catherine Kiwuka – plant genetics, Dr Geoffrey Arinaitwe – supervisor/lead facilitator

Today’s clinic which is ably sponsored by Bank of Uganda, Stanbic Bank, Naro and Nssf is the second on this calendar year following a successful one which was early this year held at MbaZARDI in Mbarara District. 

The initiative that has previously attracted farmers from all corners of the country is gaining traction as a one-stop shop where food producer’s majority who are smallholder farmers actively interact with experts in a one-of-a kind engagement.   

Format
Segmented into training, questions and answer sessions, one-on-one interactions between experts and farmers and demonstrations the clinics have always exceeded the farmers’ expectations. Today’s edition at Kituza in Mukono promises nothing less.

According to Elizabeth Namaganda the head of marketing Nation Media Group – Uganda, the trainings will be carried out by experts and will tackle a variety of subjects from farming technics to low cost pest control methods and market access. 

Dr Geoffrey Arinaitwe who is the lead facilitator will also educate farmers how they can add value to their coffee. 

“After the training, we shall also give all the participants free farming notes in hard copies and via emails so that they put in practice what they will learn,” says Namaganda.

She stresses the training will be hands-on learning experience and that each participant stands a chance of attending at least two of the six enterprises on the menu today.

“Facilitators of farming management have also been lined up to teach participants on how to manage their agribusiness revenues and also get strategies on how to tap into the abundant market,” she added.

The trainers 
Godfrey Sseremba 

Godfrey Sseremba is a senior research officer and lead breeder at NaCORI. He holds a PhD in Plant Breeding. Under the ROBUST project, Godfrey coordinates the activities at NaCORI.

NaCORI is responsible for the breeding (Robusta coffee germplasm collection, diversity assessment, core collection conservation, selection for drought tolerance), and coffee pest, disease and agro-forestry research activities on the grid and gradient.

Daphne Bitalo 
Daphne Bitalo is a senior research officer and geneticist at NaCORI.

She carries out research on conservation and evaluation of coffee and cocoa genetic resources, coffee wilt disease and cocoa postharvest handling methods.

She obtained her PhD degree in Genetics from Stellenbosch University in South Africa (2016), a Master’s degree in Genetics and a BSc (Honours) in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the same university.

She has research interests in comparative genomics, conservation biology, microbial genetics, ethics and science policy.

Dr Pascal Musoli 
Musoli is a coffee breeder for NaCORI with more than 30 years of experience in plant breeding. Recently, Dr Musoli and other scientists released drought resistant new coffee varieties

. Majorly, these varieties are resistant to coffee wilt disease and are also high yielding.

The varieties were launched in 2019 and are being multiplied by nursery operators for farmer use. During today’s farm clinic, Dr Musoli will train farmers the agronomy of these varieties.

Charles Halerimana 
Charles Halerimana is a crop entomologist and a research assistant at NaCORI. His earlier research was on the species description, distribution, relative abundance, yield losses and management of bean leaf beetles (Ootheca spp.), one of the key pests of common bean in Uganda.

He is also a PhD student under the DESIRA project conducting research in the broad area of pests and disease control in coffee agro-forestry systems in Uganda.

Farmers will this morning get new knowledge on how to combat the pests and diseases that attack coffee and other plants such as cocoa. 

Catherine Kiwuka 
Catherine Kiwuka works on in-situ conservationist/senior research officer at NaCORI; based at the Plant Genetic Resources Center -Entebbe.

She is passionate about holistic exploration and unveiling the potential within and across Plant Genetic Resources to foster their conservation and sustainable use in ways that contribute to livelihood needs e.g. food security, nutrition, health, social and economic development.

About NaCORI
NaCORI is one of the 16 semi-autonomous Public Research Institutes under the National Agricultural Research Organization (Naro) of Uganda. 

Naro mandates NaCORI to conduct agricultural research of strategic nature and national importance on coffee and cocoa, in the quest for increasing value of Coffee and cocoa exports through improved quality and productivity.

Specifically, NaCORI conducts research for development in value addition, domestic consumption, coffee and cocoa eco-tourism, improving agronomic practices, variety improvement as well as organizing farmers to adopt smart agriculture practices and explore, production of coffee and cocoa in non-traditional growing areas; for purpose of boosting productivity and production.