“…With Farmer groups, comes unity and strength against fraudulent middlemen. We will help establish and train groups of coffee growers’ best practices in this business and provide market for your coffee in this area.” This and more were revealed by JKCC to farmers of Kabasuma Coffee Farmers and Traders Association in Kireku, Bbanda Mityana District.

JKCC sowed a seed of hope among the disgruntled farmers who were tired of selling their coffee on credit. These were therefore looking for a reliable company to sell their coffee on cash.

JKCC led by Human Resource Manager, Mederd Owoyesiga pledged good working relationship with the Association.  As a result, the team promised these farmers willingness to buy their coffee and promised to be paying these farmers in cash. The farmers were made to believe that Teamwork is one of the JKCC’s core values and that them being under an association makes it easier for them to work smoothly.

 Kabasuma as an association is comprised of 80 coffee farmers who have excelled in coffee production but are being challenged with market issues as a result of exploitative middlemen.

On top of appreciating the support from JKCC, the association led by Paul Muwanga requested for more trainings on the good harvest and post- harvest handling practices to village level. This would be timely since they are in the harvest season and yet most farmers are ignorant about the practice.

JKCC team later visited Sam Ssebandeke’s 40acre coffee farm. Ssebandeke said he is doing all the good farming practices but frustrated at the time of sale. He said he harvests over 50 metric tons of FAQ but his frustration is when his coffee is bought cheaply and this is a negative energy.

Ssebandeke who has just annexed more 2 acres of coffee to his existing 40 acres said he is willing to work with JKCC and provide as much coffee as he can. Ssebandeke led JKCC on a farm tour to prove that he has coffee which is ready to sell to the company. He said that he will also deliver the same message to some of his friends in the same coffee business to have them see the light.

He said that he is already tired of selling his coffee to exploitative middlemen who are not reliable.  He pledged to add value to his coffee, something he has learnt from JKCC training in order to fetch more profits from his coffee garden.

By Asiimwe Mary Gorrette & Recheal Nampijja

PR & sustainability