Friday 26 June 2009
Thursday 25 June 2009
Taking another woman's husband to meet my mother
Ah well! This was truly interesting. Having completed the search for Ethical coffee mother dearest invited Tony for Sunday lunch.
Mother was nervous as she wasn't sure what to cook and I reassured her that Tony appears to eat anything.
Tony was nervous too, and asked a lot of questions, like what shall I wear, what shall I take your Mum, should I wear a jacket and before we got through the gate he asked if I was sure he was dressed appropriately for meeting your mother!
I reasure him that he had absolutely nothing to worry about, luckily he saw the funny side to his nervousness:-)
Sunday lunch has always been a big deal at home but the stakes appeared to have been raised on this occasion, in fact I can't remember whether mother got into such a fuss when I took Nigel to meet her for the first time.
It was a nice sunny afternoon and lunch was served in the garden. I got the chance to catch up with my cousins whom I had not seen for a while and Tony appeared to be having fun too and true to form he ate whatever was put infront of him. He got into a long discussion with one of my cousins and didn't appear to want to live!
Sadly we had two government officials to meet so we hit the road again. The last person we saw was the Managing Director of the Uganda Coffee Agency. We put our findings to him and asked him a few uneasy questions.
To be fair to him he answered our questions as honestly as he could and admitted that he was aware there were shortfalls in the system before asking us if we could help resolve them!
Having seen the state of some of the factories, this would be a tall order we said. We assured him that on the one hand what was required to turn things around was a simple case of hygiene and bean handling and on the other hand requires a complete overhaul of the factories.
We agreed to write a report with our recommendations upon our return to the UK and to explore ways in which we could help.
We hit the Road to Lake victoria with Fred who curently lives in Uganda until further notice. I don't know what it is but I absolutely love this place and a trip to Uganda is never quite completed until I have been to Munyonyo.
Mother was nervous as she wasn't sure what to cook and I reassured her that Tony appears to eat anything.
Tony was nervous too, and asked a lot of questions, like what shall I wear, what shall I take your Mum, should I wear a jacket and before we got through the gate he asked if I was sure he was dressed appropriately for meeting your mother!
I reasure him that he had absolutely nothing to worry about, luckily he saw the funny side to his nervousness:-)
Sunday lunch has always been a big deal at home but the stakes appeared to have been raised on this occasion, in fact I can't remember whether mother got into such a fuss when I took Nigel to meet her for the first time.
It was a nice sunny afternoon and lunch was served in the garden. I got the chance to catch up with my cousins whom I had not seen for a while and Tony appeared to be having fun too and true to form he ate whatever was put infront of him. He got into a long discussion with one of my cousins and didn't appear to want to live!
Sadly we had two government officials to meet so we hit the road again. The last person we saw was the Managing Director of the Uganda Coffee Agency. We put our findings to him and asked him a few uneasy questions.
To be fair to him he answered our questions as honestly as he could and admitted that he was aware there were shortfalls in the system before asking us if we could help resolve them!
Having seen the state of some of the factories, this would be a tall order we said. We assured him that on the one hand what was required to turn things around was a simple case of hygiene and bean handling and on the other hand requires a complete overhaul of the factories.
We agreed to write a report with our recommendations upon our return to the UK and to explore ways in which we could help.
We hit the Road to Lake victoria with Fred who curently lives in Uganda until further notice. I don't know what it is but I absolutely love this place and a trip to Uganda is never quite completed until I have been to Munyonyo.
Friday 19 June 2009
In search of ethical coffee- Are we there yet?
On the way back from Eastern Uganda we made a detour to a tea plantation. this was really interesting for me as I went to the Secondary School on the adjacent hill and we used to come jogging through the tea plantation every afternoon by way of practice.
Tony had never seen a tea plantation it was therefore a real treat for him. Our guide told us that the tea plantation was now owned by a Ugandan Asian. It was late afternoon and the tea pickers were out, we observed that there was a health centre and a school, within the grounds although the housing seemed a bit tired and slum like
We spent the following day on a coffee farm in a place called Bugerere, this was an upmarket set up with certification from UTZ
and later that afternoon we caught up with the Quality and Regulatory Manager at the Uganda Coffee Development Agency and he is pictured here with Tony
On Saturday we hit the road to western Ugandan and 6 hours later we were at Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union. We were met by their Executive Secretary John Nuwagaba who run through the history of their co-op. He told us that the coop was fair trade certified and was part of Cafe Direct, where they currently hold 5% shares and are hoping to increasing these in the coming year.
Tony is pictured here left to right here Hassan our guide, the chairman of the Coop , John Nuwagaba
We were then told that the farms and factories were 16 KM off road so we headed in that direction and this is what we found
Something that we found puzzling was that co-op secretary informed us that they were working towards organic coffee production and had applied for and granted funding from Rabo bank in the Netherlands to pay a consultant Alan Tulip to teach them organic farming methods.
This co-op didn't look like it could afford artificial or chemical fertilizers of any sort and were already growing their coffee without chemicals! Why did they need to put the much needed funding into something they had no need for?
Please take a look at the state of their facilities below and you may well agree with me
Coffee bags inside the coffee factory were stored on bare ground as opposed to a raised platform to allow for ventilation
coffee beans on the floor, it was unclear whether these were discarded or awaiting packaging
and this what the exterior of the coffee factory looks like.
We found this visit really distressing, specifically because two high profile UK based organisations are involved in this factory/cooperative
Whilst writing this blog this article came out in The Times today.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/article6531246.ece
May I suggest to Cafe Direct that they should first and foremost aim to improve the conditions of the growers that are affiliated to their programmes. In addition they should seek to have Value Added to the coffee at the point of production.
That would be a much better proposition for the famers, the countries where the coffee is grown would collect more by way of revenue. Taking raw products and returning them as finished products for the farmers and local to consume is a tad patronising I think.
We found and brought back coffee produced and packaged in Eastern Uganda and it we have enjoyed it very much. Ultimately this what the growers want
Tony had never seen a tea plantation it was therefore a real treat for him. Our guide told us that the tea plantation was now owned by a Ugandan Asian. It was late afternoon and the tea pickers were out, we observed that there was a health centre and a school, within the grounds although the housing seemed a bit tired and slum like
We spent the following day on a coffee farm in a place called Bugerere, this was an upmarket set up with certification from UTZ
and later that afternoon we caught up with the Quality and Regulatory Manager at the Uganda Coffee Development Agency and he is pictured here with Tony
On Saturday we hit the road to western Ugandan and 6 hours later we were at Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperative Union. We were met by their Executive Secretary John Nuwagaba who run through the history of their co-op. He told us that the coop was fair trade certified and was part of Cafe Direct, where they currently hold 5% shares and are hoping to increasing these in the coming year.
Tony is pictured here left to right here Hassan our guide, the chairman of the Coop , John Nuwagaba
We were then told that the farms and factories were 16 KM off road so we headed in that direction and this is what we found
Something that we found puzzling was that co-op secretary informed us that they were working towards organic coffee production and had applied for and granted funding from Rabo bank in the Netherlands to pay a consultant Alan Tulip to teach them organic farming methods.
This co-op didn't look like it could afford artificial or chemical fertilizers of any sort and were already growing their coffee without chemicals! Why did they need to put the much needed funding into something they had no need for?
Please take a look at the state of their facilities below and you may well agree with me
Coffee bags inside the coffee factory were stored on bare ground as opposed to a raised platform to allow for ventilation
coffee beans on the floor, it was unclear whether these were discarded or awaiting packaging
and this what the exterior of the coffee factory looks like.
We found this visit really distressing, specifically because two high profile UK based organisations are involved in this factory/cooperative
Whilst writing this blog this article came out in The Times today.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/article6531246.ece
May I suggest to Cafe Direct that they should first and foremost aim to improve the conditions of the growers that are affiliated to their programmes. In addition they should seek to have Value Added to the coffee at the point of production.
That would be a much better proposition for the famers, the countries where the coffee is grown would collect more by way of revenue. Taking raw products and returning them as finished products for the farmers and local to consume is a tad patronising I think.
We found and brought back coffee produced and packaged in Eastern Uganda and it we have enjoyed it very much. Ultimately this what the growers want
Monday 1 June 2009
In search of ethical coffee: Day 1
On 12 May 2009 Tony and I hit the road to Uganda on what became known as the UGANDA COFFEE TRAIL.
Tony at The source of River Nile uganda
Tony had never been to Africa, his parents are from Ravello on the Amalfi cost in Italy but he grew up in London
Amalfi Coast Italy
Nigel and I love that part of Italy and have had a few holidays there but had never met anyone from there
7.5 hours later on a BA filgt and were in Uganda . the best part of this is the landing over lake victoria one the largest in land lakes.
We were met by Ethnic Supplies Staff and having sorted out the itinerary we headed East to a town called Mbale. On the we stopped off at the source of the River Nile
Source of the river Nile Uganda
This is the home of Bugisu Arabica coffee; where we visited the Bugisu Cooperative Union.
This is what is called a Secondary cooperative because it buys coffee from primary societies as well as farmers, it has processing, grading and roasting facilities.
The facilities have great capacity but have fallen on bad times, meaning that the equipment is old, the facility is not as clean as it should be, part of the facility has been closed, reducing capacity. Poor business and investment decisions were made leading to near bankruptcy until the government bailed them out.
The director was understandably nervous about our intentions. He would however welcome some form of partnership working. He hopes that the Union can return to its former glory and be in a position to export a fully processed product from here. I hope so too for his sake!
We also visited the Mbale Importers and exporters- Under the leadership of Stephen M Wekomba they describe themselves as coffee exporters and processors. There was not much to learn from this group and on the day we arrived we observed women sorting coffee beans by hand
women sorting coffee beans
Hassan (our guide) Stephen and Tony
children at Mmbale exporters
After this stop we headed further east to a village called Sipi and spent the night at Sipi River Lodge
a home from home.
This place is located on the foot hills of Mt elgon and the weather is changeable from hour to hour. When we arrived it was sunny half an hour alter, it rained so heavily we couldn't believe it!
sipi river falls, view from my bedroom window
cottage at Sipi River Lodge
Tony at The source of River Nile uganda
Tony had never been to Africa, his parents are from Ravello on the Amalfi cost in Italy but he grew up in London
Amalfi Coast Italy
Nigel and I love that part of Italy and have had a few holidays there but had never met anyone from there
7.5 hours later on a BA filgt and were in Uganda . the best part of this is the landing over lake victoria one the largest in land lakes.
We were met by Ethnic Supplies Staff and having sorted out the itinerary we headed East to a town called Mbale. On the we stopped off at the source of the River Nile
Source of the river Nile Uganda
This is the home of Bugisu Arabica coffee; where we visited the Bugisu Cooperative Union.
This is what is called a Secondary cooperative because it buys coffee from primary societies as well as farmers, it has processing, grading and roasting facilities.
The facilities have great capacity but have fallen on bad times, meaning that the equipment is old, the facility is not as clean as it should be, part of the facility has been closed, reducing capacity. Poor business and investment decisions were made leading to near bankruptcy until the government bailed them out.
The director was understandably nervous about our intentions. He would however welcome some form of partnership working. He hopes that the Union can return to its former glory and be in a position to export a fully processed product from here. I hope so too for his sake!
We also visited the Mbale Importers and exporters- Under the leadership of Stephen M Wekomba they describe themselves as coffee exporters and processors. There was not much to learn from this group and on the day we arrived we observed women sorting coffee beans by hand
women sorting coffee beans
Hassan (our guide) Stephen and Tony
children at Mmbale exporters
After this stop we headed further east to a village called Sipi and spent the night at Sipi River Lodge
a home from home.
This place is located on the foot hills of Mt elgon and the weather is changeable from hour to hour. When we arrived it was sunny half an hour alter, it rained so heavily we couldn't believe it!
sipi river falls, view from my bedroom window
cottage at Sipi River Lodge
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