00:07Godfrey Segirinha has run a successful coffee trading business for three years.
00:13He buys directly from smallholder farms and sells to exporters in Mukono, east of Kampala.
00:21Segirinha ferries tons of coffee every season to this processing plant where dozens of traders
00:28gather to sell their stock.
00:30However sourcing from various farms causes quality variations that eat into his profits.
00:38The main challenge is harvesting before the berries are ripe.
00:42Some farmers do that.
00:44Climate change is also another problem.
00:47Even when a farmer harvests at the right time, the sun or hailstorms can destroy the coffee
00:53beans and affect yields.
00:55Fluctuating international market prices are also trickling down to traders like Segirinha.
01:02Exporters quickly adapt to global price caps, a move that often penalizes local farmers and
01:09small-scale dealers.
01:11This shift directly impacts rural incomes and market supply.
01:18Imagine you bought coffee at a higher price, only for prices to drop, yet you have already
01:24spent all your money and farmers are calling you for more stock.
01:28You are left with no option but to sell at that miserable price so that you can restock.
01:34Obviously, that hurts your profits.
01:38Uganda is aggressively tackling poor farming practices to improve yields and stay competitive.
01:44These interventions have helped the country maintain its status as a top coffee exporter
01:51on the continent.
01:53The focus is now shifting towards exporting processed coffee to maximize value, moving away from the traditional trade of raw
02:03beans.
02:03It's all about visibility for Ugandan coffee and opening up markets.
02:10Yeah, that's really what it is, especially for the value-added coffee.
02:19Because at the moment we have challenges with tariffs in different countries for value-added coffee.
02:27If you are exporting green beans, if you are importing green beans in, say, I can give an example, a
02:34country like Take.
02:35If you are a business and you are importing raw coffee, there is no tax.
02:40But if you are importing value-added coffee, there is tax.
02:43Research into resilient coffee varieties remains a top government priority to counter climate change.
02:51The government is also distributing processing machinery to former cooperatives to strengthen the local value chain.
03:00Before, we were using substandard machines, but the government's helped us bring these new machines
03:05that bring out high-quality beans and will even improve prices.
03:09New processing infrastructure is being built across the country to scale up local roasting and packaging.
03:16New processingegg.
03:17New processing technologies is being built across the country's
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