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For many, Uganda may not be the first country to think of high-quality Arabica coffee: it is traditionally considered to be a producer of robusta coffee. In many parts of the country, however, the challenge is more about infrastructure, history and knowledge than the environment. The Ruwenzori Mountains in the west of the country (bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo) are only one of the many areas in the country best suited for producing high-quality specialty coffee.

Winston? Sir Sir Winston Churchill initially described Uganda as "the pearl of Africa" and praised its "colorful forms and colors, splendid life and great scale". Thanks to the dual-mode rainfall season and high altitude, the country has a pleasant climate and verdant vegetation all the year round. The eastern and western mountains are home to farmers in Arabica, Uganda; Robusta comes from the central plateau.

Rwenzoris is called "Moon Mountain". They extend 120 kilometres along the border between western Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Snow-covered peaks, more than 5000 meters above sea level, support glaciers, which are the starting point from which many rivers flow down the slopes (including a source of the Nile). The slopes of this region are an area where the Government of Uganda is promoting coffee production as a key driver of rural development.

This area is home to the Bakonzo tribe, which has been farming in the foothills of Rwenzori for as long as I can remember. High altitude, fertile soil and ample rainfall provide perfect conditions for Arabica coffee to grow. Coffee provides a steady income for farmers in Bakonzo, allowing them to support their families and develop their own homes. Coffee is grown under banana trees, while mixed farms also produce cassava, corn, beans and peanuts for local consumption and income.

Bukangzo County is divided into many sub-counties, such as Kisinga, Gyeonggi Province, Kiarumba, Monkunyu, Mahango, Niacatunqi and Isango. There are many small towns in the lowlands in this area, and there is a good road network between them. These towns provide ideal locations for coffee processing and are home to many farmers' groups and primary processors, which is in Kisinga, where Kyagalanyi's first coffee station in the region is located. Here, Kyagalanyi focuses on high-quality specialty natural Arabica coffee beans.

Most farmers own about 1 hectare of land, and all the work on the farm is done by hand, usually by immediate family members. People usually work together in groups, processing and selling their coffee on a community-based and sometimes extended family basis, a method known as "sharing agriculture". This will help them improve their processing, better control quality and improve their marketing ability.

Kyagalanyi is one of the entities that take advantage of this budding potential and make it possible for smallholder farmers to participate in professional markets. In Uganda, they operate three sustainable Arabica washing stations, all of which are UTZ certified. Their Kisinga coffee station shows farmers a project that combines processing infrastructure with agricultural extension services.

Kyagalanyi's goal is to establish long-term relationships with groups in the region and to work closely with them to develop the value chain. Work in Bagongso County has only recently begun, but Kyagalanyi is already helping farmers get better market information, raising prices to achieve better quality, and providing advice on how farmers can improve their primary processing technologies. The region will soon become part of the Kyagalanyi Coffee Service Project, which aims to sustainably improve coffee production and quality.

In such a small coffee-growing area, coffee plays such an important economic role for so many families, so it is not surprising that coffee production in Bagongso County faces challenges. Rainfall becomes more irregular, with frequent droughts and punitive torrential rains. The temperature is rising across the board. In this unreliable situation, the Kyagalanyi plan plays a very important role. Elsewhere, the team is committed to promoting ecological buffers and shade planting on coffee farms, which help regulate temperatures and reduce erosion caused by sudden floods, and they provide extensive training on agricultural topics. A large field team in the region has just begun to provide a series of promotional efforts to help coffee farmers increase coffee production and improve their livelihoods. Since coffee production is still well below the optimal level, farmers can easily double it. Group training, individual family training, coffee youth teams, demonstration plots, model farms, coffee nurseries and free cherry collection are all services provided by the Kyagalanyi team to small farmers to help them make full use of the land. Improving farm management through these training will make trees more adaptable to climate change and offset overall production reductions due to changes in weather patterns.

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