From a Seedling to a Cup

Uganda cooperative ensures its coffee travels the world

Small batches of coffee are roasted and tested by professionals at Ankole’s tasting center to ensure quality. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

Elvanis Nkundwa reaches up and plucks red coffee cherries from the branch of one of her coffee trees. She moves quickly and confidently through her orchard, harvesting cherries by the handful. Narrow footpaths cut between the trees; taller trees overhead provide shade and a home for the numerous birds whose songs fill the mountain air.

The shaded hills of southwestern Uganda are a natural home for coffee. Elvanis has worked on this hillside for several years producing coffee for the nearby Ankole Coffee Cooperative, which buys its coffee from several local growers.

Elvanis Nkundwa gives a tour of her farm and demonstrates harvesting techniques. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

“When the season is good, I can make two million Ugandan shillings [about $550],” she said. Uganda’s favorable climate means there will be two or sometimes three seasons each year.

Before she joined the cooperative, Elvanis’ income was not secure. “I sold the coffee to several different places and got a low price. It was not good.”

Now, she says: “With the income, I have been able to educate my children. It’s excellent!” The profits have helped her send all five of her children through school, no small feat in a country where school fees are often an insurmountable barrier to education.

From left: Ripe coffee cherries. Coffee farmer Elvanis Nkundwa. The sign in front of the farm shows it is part of the cooperative. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

Being a member of the Ankole Cooperative, which was founded in 2006 with assistance from USAID and now has almost 10,000 members, provides financial security and other benefits for Elvanis. She gets her trees from Ankole’s nursery — coffee seedlings are slow to mature, and the nursery allows members to save time and earn income more quickly. Once the trees have begun to produce cherries, members like Elvanis sell them back to Ankole.

“In addition to the seedlings, I also get farming equipment and receive advice,” she said.

Seedlings growing at the Ankole Coffee Cooperative. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

Members of the Ankole Cooperative have developed ways to help each other in order to keep their collective production high. They can use their collective power to access low-cost loans, for example. For many farmers this is essential to be able to expand their farms.

Ankole also operates a small medical clinic on its premises providing health services to its employees and the community. The members also provide after-school lessons in farming to children in nearby schools, ensuring that the coffee industry in Uganda will continue to expand well into the future.

The clinic at the Ankole Coffee Cooperative provides basic health services to members, and is also open to the broader community for a modest fee. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

The cooperative processes its coffee beans on site, aiming for both domestic and international sales. Cherries are dried, washed, and hulled. Although much of the process is mechanized, the final step — sorting through the piles of washed beans to remove imperfections — still requires a human touch.

Ankole employs workers from the surrounding community to sift through the piles, removing coffee beans that would affect the flavor and price of the final product. These workers have the same access to loans, medical care, and collective financial security as Elvanis and the farmers — they all depend on each other, after all.

The final sorting of coffee beans — to remove imperfect beans that will affect quality — must be done by hand. Ankole pays higher than the average for this region, and offers health care and a savings association. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

“I love this job,” said Flavia Arinaitkie, one of the 130 employees sorting through the coffee beans for a final check. “I get income to send my children to school, buy food, and pay hospital bills.”

A high proportion of Ankole’s members are women, and to ensure that their perspective is understood and their needs are addressed, Ankole employs a gender officer. “We make sure that farming men and women participate and share profits equally. We also provide women access to loans that they pay back with 1 percent interest,” said Yorkonia Tumwijeho, Ankole’s gender officer.

Ankole Cooperative, which was founded in 2006 with assistance from USAID and now has almost 10,000 members, is involved in all the steps needed to turn coffee beans into a delicious drink. The cooperative uses modern machinery to process their Fair Trade, organic coffee, but workers also perform the delicate task of final sorting by hand. Processed coffee is sent to roasters across Africa and Europe, but not before small batches are sipped by trained professionals at Ankole’s tasting center to ensure quality. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

Once the beans are sorted, Ankole’s tasters take samples of the batches, roast them, and judge the smell and taste. Within the space of just a few miles, the coffee has gone from seedling to tree to bean to cup. With the final stamp of approval, the remaining unroasted coffee will be sent to coffee companies across the region and the world. One major client is Gepa, Europe’s largest Fair Trade-aligned trade organization.

“Our coffee is Fair Trade and organic and scores very high,” said Pison Kukudakwe, Ankole’s quality officer. “We want to maximize the benefits for the farmers and produce a high-quality product for the European market.”

Ankole coffee is available in Germany and the UK. / Hector Gonzalez, USAID

Back at her farm, Elvanis takes a step back to proudly survey her harvest. “I’m thankful to those who are buying our coffee. It helps us earn income and improve life for our families,” she says.

USAID has a variety of Feed the Future activities in Uganda, including supporting organizations such as the Ankole Cooperative. On May 28, the U.S. Government and the Government of Uganda will sign a declaration to reaffirm their shared goals in Uganda’s journey to self-reliance.

About the Author

Hector Gonzalez is a communications specialist at USAID’s mission in Uganda.