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President Yoweri Museveni is today Tuesday, May 21 set to visit and check on the progress of a modern industrial coffee park in Rwashamaire town council, Ntungamo district where the government has already injected over Shs 37 billion.
The funds were allocated in FY 2023/24 through the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) secretariat after leaders from the African coffee-producing countries met in Kampala in August 2023 for the G-25 African Coffee Summit. Here, they agreed to push the value-addition agenda and end the export of raw coffee beans.
Since 2023, government has been investing in the coffee value addition chain through the Coffee Investment Consortium Uganda (CICU), to increase export revenue from coffee, create employment opportunities and increase the farm gate prices.
CICU is a pool that unites coffee stakeholders in Uganda to add value to coffee and to promote the export of value-added coffee from Uganda as a single source origin.
Construction works which started in October 2023 currently at 60 per cent and completion is set for December 2024. Constructions and installations of components for additional products like instant soluble coffee, ready-to-drink cold brew and cosmetics are being undertaken by local and international contractors under the supervision of government engineers led by the State House Engineering Unit.
Coffee is currently Uganda’s second-highest export earner after gold. Between May 2023 and April 2024, Uganda’s coffee exports fetched $1.02 billion, a seven per cent increase from the previous financial year.
CICU previously faced several challenges including lack of coordination, heavy indebtedness, and limited technical and financial support among others but according to the minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Monica Musenero Masanza, these challenges were successfully mitigated.