Ssebyala's golden harvest: How coffee farming changed former mayor's life

 Charles Ssebyala, a former Luweero Town Council chairperson, has retired to the farm from politics. He has since tripled his visits to the family coffee farm in the wake of the coffee sales boom. His coffee plantation that measures 14 acres is the pride of the family after the recent bumper harvest of more than 80 bags.

The prevailing fair market prices for the crop are inspiring new family income projects. Ssebyala has already bought more land, furnished his home, and is looking forward to building a hotel on land he acquired at Wobulenzi Town Council in Luweero District.

“When you get good money from the hard-earned labour, the excitement that comes with the good money requires planning. I have already invested the money in tangible projects to boost the family income. 

Farmers should be able to own good houses, and pay school fees for their children. This is what I have done, among other projects,” he says.

As the chairperson of Luweero Town Council in 2013, Ssebyala was already involved in the coffee farming project, but only on a four-acre piece of land.

The political pressure and meagre earnings from his political office were eating into the family incomes from rental houses and a medical clinic managed by his wife. But with advice from friends, religious leaders, and Buganda Kingdom that flagged off the ‘Mwanyi terimba’ or coffee is a sure deal programme, Ssebyala set eyes on expanding his coffee acreage to at least 10 acres.

Ssebyala says keeping abreast with coffee market trends, disease control and getting to plant disease-resistant varieties are the keys to sustaining the coffee plantations. “We did not have much land to expand the coffee farm project. The first maiden harvest was about 15 bags of coffee in 2017. At the time, the 

land under coffee was only about six acres,” he says.

Hidden treasure

Ssebyala says in Uganda, farmers have for long been relegated to the jobless class, earning to meet only their domestic needs for food and clothing, yet the farmers have the ability to outshine the white collar working class of citizens. “I have always told fellow farmers that we are not jobless, but equally employed in our gardens. We, as farmers, should show the world that we are not jobless and have the ability to survive by the garden. The coffee crop will help us educate our children, build modest homes and live decent lives,” he says.

Ssebyala had been in farming s for some 30 years and had tried out many other crops such as maize, beans and banana for both food and cash. But his discovery of the coffee crop was a surprise.

“The coffee crop is re-opening the closed gates. I had assumed that politics was the way to shape my future, but God had a different direction. I did not make it to Parliament and have no regret for choosing the garden. The political office gave me the social capital and the garden is my new office,” he says. 

Ssebyala nursed dreams of representing Katikamu North constituency in the 11th Parliament, but never abandoned his coffee dream from which he harvested cash to meet his voters’ demands..

But Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realised the value in the coffee crop. "The more the coffee farmers in an area, the more secure our coffee gardens are because we have people who steal fresh coffee beans from the gardens," he says. 

Ssebyala has also bought the idea of introducing organic manure generated from the new poultry project run by his family. “The poultry farm with about 300 birds is still small but we hope to triple the number of birds. The droppings from the poultry farm will be transferred to the coffee garden,” he says.

The hope to acquire an irrigation pump for the coffee farm is not lost, because of the good coffee price, Ssebyala is also thinking of introducing an irrigation water pump to sustain the health of the coffee trees during the dry spell seasons. Section of the land has dandy soils prone to high water loss during the dry spell, he adds.

Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realised the value of coffee and are busy planting the crop. The more the coffee farmers in an area, the more secure our coffee gardens become because we have individuals that still fresh coffee beans at the gardens, he says. 

Sections of the land where Ssebyala’s coffee garden is located require manure and he has now introduced organic manure generated from the new poultry project run by his family.

Ssebyala is also thinking of introducing an irrigation water pump to sustain the health of the coffee trees during the dry spell season. Section of the land has sandy soils that are prone to high water loss during the dry spell.