By KT Reporter
Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) has disclosed an ambitious plan to expand coffee growing on one million acres of farmland across Northern Uganda as part of efforts to transform livelihoods and combat poverty.
The development was revealed by Sylvia Owori, the OWC Director of Operations, during a recent engagement with cultural leaders at the Acholi Cultural Institution palace in Gulu city.
While Owori didn’t specify the time frame, she noted that the initiative is a strategic move focusing on boosting household incomes and poverty eradication in Northern Uganda, which ranks among the poorest regions in the country.
“Our target in the northern region is to plant one million acres of coffee. So the coffee goes hand in hand with planting of the trees…” said Owori.
Owori said that through the initiative, last farming season alone, a total of 2.2 million coffee seedlings were distributed to farmers for planting in the sub-region.
“So that tells you that we are basically determined and extremely focused in ensuring that we keep poverty out of Northern Uganda. For us, that’s our mandate, that’s why we are called Operation Wealth Creation,” She said.
Adding that: “We have created wealth for Uganda, but specifically, our biggest focus has been on Northern Uganda, given the statistics, it being the second poorest in the country, but that is going to change.”
According to Owori, the government has already earmarked 60 billion shillings to scale up coffee production in Northern Uganda, adding that Acholi stands to benefit greatly from the investment.
She encouraged the leaders to support the government in mobilising farmers in the sub-region to embrace coffee growing and trees for wealth creation and future climate change mitigation.
While there aren’t clear statistics on the size of land currently being used for cultivating coffee in Northern Uganda, statistics from the now merged Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) showed that by last year, there were 127,184 households engaged in coffee growing in the region.
Kenneth Oketa, the team leader of the Information Management Centre in the office of the Chief Coordinator OWC, noted that northern Uganda stands as a potential region for boosting the country’s coffee export.
According to Oketa, while Uganda’s coffee export hit $2 billion, it’s being grown by farmers who own approximately only a third of the land currently being used for coffee growing in Northern Uganda.
He noted that if coffee growing takes root in the region on a commercial scale, the region alone can produce coffee worth $2 billion.
Oketa explained that in a bid to support farmers in the region during the dry season, the government, through a 60 billion shillings budget, is targeting to provide irrigation systems to coffee farmers owning 10 acres.
Already, the government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, according to Oket, has contracted Nexus Green, which will undertake the irrigation equipment installations once implementation of the project commences.
The government has been promoting coffee production in Northern Uganda with an aim of achieving its ambitious plans of producing 20 million bags of coffee by 2030.
In the Acholi Sub-region, OWC, in its coffee growing campaign, has so far partnered with Roco Paco, an initiative that seeks to restore the societal collapse in the Acholi and the religious institutions to mobilise farmers for coffee growing.
At least 100,000 Robusta coffee seedlings were distributed to the Northern Uganda Diocese to champion the coffee campaign practically. In 2024, Northern Uganda produced 962,278 bags of coffee beans packaged in 60 kg bags.
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