World Coffee Research Teams Up With United Nations To Strengthen Uganda's Coffee Seed Systems – CoffeeTalk

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and World Coffee Research (WCR) have announced an €850,000 co-investment in the Advancing Climate-Resilience and Transformation in African Coffee Programme (ACT) aimed at strengthening Uganda’s coffee seed systems, enhancing farmer livelihoods, and promoting long-term sustainability. Supported by a coalition that includes the Lavazza Foundation, The J.M. Smucker Co., and JDE Peet’s, the initiative strives to secure the future of Uganda’s coffee sector, which is crucial as Uganda stands as Africa’s largest coffee exporter.

Spanning a three-year period, the project will facilitate access to high-quality planting material, aiming to increase the productivity and resilience of Uganda’s coffee farmers, who are currently facing significant threats from various diseases such as coffee wilt disease (CWD) in robusta and multiple issues in arabica. The initiative aligns with Uganda’s national objective of achieving 20 million bags of coffee production annually by 2030 and taps into earlier research indicating that CWD-resistant varieties can enhance smallholder farmers’ profits by up to 250%.

The program focuses on critical priorities outlined in a roadmap led by Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) in collaboration with WCR. This initiative is further supported by the 2024 G7 endorsement for enhanced public-sector investment in agricultural research and development (R&D), which is crucial for transforming value chains towards sustainability and climate resilience.

Key strategies to strengthen Uganda’s seed system infrastructure include:

1. Expansion of resilient varieties: Establishing robusta mother gardens and nurseries across Northern, Central, and Western Uganda, with the goal of producing approximately 460,000 high-yielding, CWD-resistant (KR line) robusta trees annually.
2. Genetic purity assurance: Performing genotyping on over 5,000 robusta mother garden plants to ensure genetic conformity, thereby assuring farmers of the expected resilience and productivity of new trees.
3. Local capacity enhancement: Collaborating with government partners to train technicians in quality assurance and advanced propagation techniques, including international training at prestigious institutions like Cenicafé in Colombia.
4. Demand stimulation: Setting up demonstration plots for both KR robusta lines and advanced arabica hybrids to showcase their performance and encourage farmer uptake of these improved planting materials.

This public-private partnership builds on WCR’s previous initiatives in Uganda aimed at enhancing the availability of high-quality plants and ensuring a reliable future supply for the coffee industry. Stakeholders like Andrea De Marco, UNIDO Programme Manager, highlighted the potential of Uganda’s coffee sector and the importance of this collaboration in fostering sustainable and equitable coffee production. Veronica Rossi from the Lavazza Foundation emphasized their commitment to supporting coffee-growing communities through innovative and collaborative efforts. Dr. Jennifer Long, CEO of World Coffee Research, reinforced the significance of collective action in addressing systemic challenges faced by the coffee industry, thereby securing the quality coffee supply essential for the future.

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