Agriculture ministry publishes list of certified coffee seed gardens

The Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries in partnership with the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) has released a list of certified coffee seed gardens in central, eastern, north western, south western and western Uganda, the sector Minister Vincent Ssempijja says in the latest press release.
According to the minister Ssempijja, the three agencies certified the coffee seed gardens after the re-assessment of the gardens. The selected gardens where those whose owners complied with the requisite requirements for seed production.
The analysis of the press release means those not certified will lose business and only the producers operating the certified gardens will supply elite seed to UCDA and private coffee nursery operators for purposes of propagating quality coffee planting material for farmers.
The minister in the press release says that private coffee nursery operators will be required to obtain the coffee seed purchase receipts from the authorized suppliers. “The seed purchase receipts will be required during the nursery certification process and seedlings availability assessments,” says the minister.
According to the press release 21 producers with a combined 195MT of coffee planting material were certified, with the least producers owning 1MT while the biggest-Kaweri Coffee Plantation in Mityana district owning 50MT.
Uganda grows both Arabica and Robusta coffee with the latter being produced in large quantities though it is exported at a lesser price per kilogram compared to the former.
UCDA in its February 2018 report says 131,329,908 coffee seedlings were planted in all the coffee growing regions of the country and that 208,020,003 seedlings are available for planting in the five coffee growing regions between March and May 2018.
That publication of the list of certified coffee seed producers comes as part of the implementation of the coffee roadmap in which the country targets to produce 20 million 60-kg bags per year by 2025.