Locations
Value Chain Analysis of the Coffee Sector Report
Value Chain Analysis of the Coffee Sector Report
December 17, 2015
Coffee is the second largest valued commodity in international trade, and the most widely traded tropical agricultural commodity after petroleum. Trade in coffee is dominated by Latin America and Caribbean countries which account for about 57% of world exports while African countries account for about 14%, mainly of the Robusta type. In Uganda, which is the 2nd largest exporter of coffee in Africa, coffee is an important cash crop that supports over 3.5 million families at all levels of the value chain especially for income security and contributes to between 20 - 30% of foreign exchange earnings.
Over the last 5 years, coffee production has decreased by about 5% while land under cultivation has increased by 23%. This decrease in coffee productivity is attributed to a combination of factors such as pests and diseases, unpredictable weather conditions, volatile market prices and poor agricultural practices especially with regard to use of improved planting materials. The acreage under coffee production ranges from 0.1ha to 12 ha per household with an average of 0.5 ha. Robusta is the major grown variety.
Report Highlights
- The study recommends that, interventions in the coffee value chain should aim to improve, replicate or upscale value chain models that can integrate large number of producers. In the short term, this can be achieved by directly linking them to off-takers that have strong linkages with big international importers and/or growing specialty markets for green coffee.
- In the medium term, the study proposes strengthening multi-actor platforms for advocacy. It also recommends driving the agenda of inclusive development and growth in the sector through key areas of sustainable coffee production and increasing productivity.
- In the long term, the study proposes a strategy to re-orient the overall long term performance of the sub-sector towards greater competitiveness among other global players. At the same time, this strategy will aim at increasing the long term demand and consumption of locally developed and produced value-added coffee products that target the changing tastes and demographics of the national and regional population.
