In Uganda, coffee farming is the main source of income for many families yet over 80 percent of these families are still living below the poverty line.

This has been attributed to exploitative middlemen who press the coffee farmers to the wall and end up buying their produce at a throw away price.

 JKCC General supplies ltd, one of the leading coffee exporters in Uganda has come up with an initiative to be the voice to the voiceless farmers by transforming farmers’ lives and communities plus strengthening their farms.

While in Nakatooke Village in Butambala District, the team from JKCC donated sprayer Pumps to the farmers in the area. “It’s important to sell the farm produce, but it’s also important to know who the kind of buyer you are selling to. We need to see that you as a farmer benefit from your sweat. JKCC is here to assist you understand farm handling” The sprayer pumps will help in spraying fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides as requested by farmers.

The farmers highlighted challenges they face on the farm that include among others pests, lack of fertilizers, poor post-harvest methods, record keeping and poverty. The farmers assured JKCC team that if all that could be sorted, then they will have skipped the poverty line.

Coffee is more than just one of the world’s most popular beverages. For the world’s roughly 12.5 million farming families, coffee represents food, clean water, medicine, school fees, or a better home.

Many factors make it difficult for these farmers to earn decent livelihoods. As family land has been subdivided over the years, average farm size has significantly decreased. As farms shrunk, smallholder coffee farmers earned less, and are unable to invest in the farm improvements that would help them earn more from their coffee–leading to further decreases in production and sales. And while global coffee prices have fluctuated over the years, low market prices hit coffee farmers particularly hard when they are already struggling with these ongoing challenges.