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
