Sinners and saints: coffee in Uganda has become hot politics

Some of the words were unclear and Among vehemently denies she uttered such words, even as Buganda, which grows 50 percent of the country’s coffee, denounces her and the attempt to consume UCDA as “punishment” for the region.

Coffee in Uganda and most other places (it helped rebuild Vietnam’s economy after the 1975 war) is political, and the move to take over UCDA is political, there’s no doubt about it. The question is how?

We will have to go back more than 100 years, back to today, and also look into the next 10 years. About 85 percent of coffee in Uganda is Robusta, with Arabica being 15 percent.

Without boring readers with the details, Robusta is ranked below Arabica, which commands a higher price in the market. When Arab traders first arrived in what is now Uganda in the mid-1840s, Robusta coffee grew wild in the rainforests of Buganda. As many have noted, Uganda’s coffee journey began without outside intervention.

However, Arabica coffee was introduced by colonialists and the first Arabica plantations were established around 1914 in Eastern Uganda (Mount Elgon region), Rwenzori and Kisoro mountains in Western Uganda. Arabica needs a delicate climate. Robusta is hardy and can survive in lowlands.

Thus, from a political point of view, robusta became kintu kyaffe, which loosely translated means “our business,” “home child.” Arabica is foreign; invader. What happened next was probably an accident rather than an intention.

The surge in demand for coffee during World War II created a boom, and Buganda made money from it. Among other historical factors, coffee gave Buganda power. Although colonial Britain collaborated with the Buganda Kingdom, it also sought to weaken that power.

Britain was a Protestant power and soon had to fight European Catholic powers (Germany, France and Italy – the latter two in Uganda) for control of Africa. Uganda was embroiled in the Protestant-Catholic-Muslim wars of 1890.

The leading Catholic center was Masaka, which is also considered the birthplace of the Democratic Party, the “Catholic Party”. Because Masaka is located in one of the most pleasant climates in Uganda, it has also become a leading producer of Robusta coffee.

Coffee in Western and Eastern Uganda became one of the non-lethal ways in which the British weakened the power of the Buganda and the Catholics. But it only transferred what it took from Buganda to the non-Buganda Protestant movement.

Robusta was promoted in anti-monarchy Ankole, especially in the Busheni region. Busheni and Bugisu became important cogs in the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), the “Protestant party”. The UPC also flourished in Kisoro. Obote’s regime expanded these coffee initiatives and implemented local land reforms in Bushenyi as part of them.

On May 27, 1980, when former President Milton Obote returned to Uganda after nine years in exile in Tanzania, he landed in Busheni. They called him “Nyamurunga”. Coffee is one of the reasons why Obote was so worshiped in this area.

We will move beyond the eras of Idi Amin and Obote II. It is worth mentioning that the cache of coffee discovered by President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA) in cooperative shops in Masaka when it took over the area in late 1985 was a game changer. The rebels sold coffee on the world market and amassed piles of money, allowing them to pour critical resources into the war that brought them victory in Kampala in January 1986.

What happened in 1971 is the stuff of a book, not a 1000 word newspaper article, but you can see some historical moments that still influence Ugandan coffee today.

In Uganda, while we hear about the Robusta vs. Arabica dichotomy, today’s favorite premium coffee from the country for specialty buyers is one that many haven’t even heard of – Nebbi Zombo from the Alur Highlands of Northern Uganda. The coffee table in Uganda will have to be rearranged.

Although Robusta may find itself on the bottom rung, it won’t be for long. The global demand for Robusta has skyrocketed and is predicted to soon become the absolute leader as emerging markets, all the leading economies of the future world such as China and India, as well as most rich countries drink Robusta because it gives a stronger boost, which is needed in these stressful times.

Domestically, all this could bring more money into the pockets of Buganda Robusta growers. The global coffee market is currently valued at $264 billion. It is estimated that by the time Uganda goes to the crucial 2031 elections, the global coffee market could reach $490 billion.

This became even more important as Uganda bet on oil and delayed the oil pipeline to Tangu, Tanzania. Global oil demand is slowing and will peak by 2030, just four to three years after the pipeline is completed. By 2034, if demand for coffee in Uganda doubles and its position in the global market strengthens, it will be more valuable than oil. Getting a piece of it early, especially the supply chain, will pay off handsomely in the near future.

Today, however, while Uganda’s coffee revenues amount to just over $1 billion a year, according to UCDA, climate change is threatening the crop.

Arabica coffee will have to be grown at higher altitudes, while Robusta coffee will have to be grown in more temperate climates.

Landslides in the Bugisu, Kisoro and Rwenzori regions have complicated the situation. In Buganda, farmers can turn the tide, but right now the brutal devastation of the region’s wetlands and forests has become a liability.

It also made environmental exploitation a more pressing issue in the south and generally worsened land grabbing. Coffee is a hot potato in politics, but hold out until 2034; It will get hotter.

The author, Charles Onyango Obbo, is a journalist, writer and curator of The Wall of Great Africans. X(Twitter)@cobbo3