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February 2010: KYAGALANYI COFFEE LIMITED

 

Important points:

Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited (KCL) was one of the first registered coffee exporters following the liberalization of the Ugandan coffee industry in 1992.

Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited exports washed and unwashed Robusta and washed and natural Arabica coffees to all major coffee markets in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. Today, Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited is the leading green coffee exporter in Uganda with an export volume of 500,000 60 kilogram bags per annum.

In 2000, Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited became the first ISO 9001:2000 certified coffee export company in Uganda and in 2005 started the Nakanyonyi Coffee Project, which has acquired both Utz certification and 4 C verification. This is largely a replanting project to provide clonal coffee seedlings to all registered farmers in the Nakanyonyi coffee growing area.

Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited also handles the chain of custody for Good African Coffee Limited, which sources coffees from a 14,000 strong farmer grouping in the Mount Rwenzori coffee region.

Furthermore, Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited has entered into a joint venture with Main Traders Limited (MTL) which is based in the eastern Ugandan town of Mbale to source the excellent coffees from farmer groups in the Mount Elgon coffee region.

In 2008, Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited established Project Bushenyi, whose focus is on buying, processing and selling washed Robusta coffees.

1) Poject Nakanyonyi

• Kyagalanyi’s project at Nakanyonyi was established in 2005 to:
• Foster coffee farming, harvesting and post harvesting practices in order to increase farm yields in the once thriving coffee region of Nakanyonyi in Mukono district through the transfer of knowledge on good agricultural practices.
• Assist the small holder farmers to increase their household incomes by demystifying the role of the middleman through bulk marketing and access to a stable and available market. Farmers are free to sell to the buyers with the best price offers.
• Replant a minimum of 1 million Robusta coffee trees that have been identified by researchers to be resistant to the Coffee Wilt Disease (CWD) in a period of 5 years.
• Introduce the registered small scale farmers to both Utz Certification and 4 C verification.

 

(click on image to enlarge)

 A mother garden has been established to supply coffee seedlings at Nakanyonyi Project. This mother garden has 5,000 CWD resistant clonal Robusta coffee bushes grown from tissue culture initially sourced from the Uganda Coffee Research Center laboratory. The project is now able to supply seedlings on a sustainable basis from its own mother gardens.

The nursery comprises of 4 nursery sheds each having the capacity to house 60,000 seedlings giving a total capacity of about 240,000 seedlings. Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited has planted 5 different varieties of coffee in the mother garden that have shown the best resistance to CWD and which provide improved yields. The project is also testing 24 new varieties on behalf of Coffee Research Institute.

3,200 farmers are registered and Utz certified and 4 C verified with 157 demonstration plots, one for each of the farmer groups where resources like tarpaulins, knapsack sprayers and urea to increase yields have been supplied.

350,000 coffee trees have now been planted and a community borehole is being constructed at to provide clean water for the project and the community around the project.

A drip irrigation system is being installed in the mother garden to boost productivity of seedlings, which will be distributed to both the project farmers and to the general public on a “Willing Seller Willing Buyer’’ basis.

Project Nakanyonyi has benefited from the support of USAID and Solidaridad and is thus fully committed to improving social and economic activities in the community.

2) Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited - Main Traders Limited (MTL) Mount Elgon Washed Arabica Project:

The Mount Elgon Washed Arabica Project started in 2007 as a joint venture between Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited and Main Traders Limited and is today improving coffee quality and livelihood standards.

The project has established a partnership with 5,000 registered participating small holder farmers located in the Districts of Sironko, Bududa, Manafwa, Mbale and Kapchorwa. These farmers are members of producer organizations found near the washing stations of Gibuzale, Kapchorwa, Busano, Busulani and Manafwa.

Increased yields of high quality washed Arabica coffee is being attributed to interventions by the project. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) have been adopted by farmers and these include integrated pest management, pruning, stumping, tipping soil and water conservation leading to better crop welfare and improved farm productivity.

The project has also sensitized farmers on the merits of proper pre-harvest practices and the value addition in picking only ripe cherries. Careful pulping of ripe cherries either at eco washing stations or by using hand pulpers is encouraged further guaranteeing the yield and quality of the coffee.

The relationship between yield, quality and price is self evident with farmers not only receiving a premium price up front but also highly significant second or bonus payments based on the absolute quality of the coffee produced.

3) Project Bushenyi - Uganda Washed Robusta

Kyagalanyi established a joint venture with Bushenyi Wet Coffee Processors Limited (BWCPL) in 2008 to procure, wash, process and exports fine washed Robusta coffee marketed under the name “Queen of the Nile”.

BWCPL handles the buying and wet processing of the coffee while Kyagalanyi Coffee Limited supports the project by financing it, processing the parchment and handling the marketing of the finished product. KCL’s extensive experience in quality control guarantees an excellent cup of washed Robusta.

In addition to its own plantation the joint venture has an out grower scheme through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS), which serves as a model farm in the area where small scale farmers are trained and guided in good agriculture practices. The joint venture procures the red cherries from the farmers around the washing station.

 

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