Company : Ibero and Sara Lee's DE Foundation
Groups : Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung & EDE Consulting; EU; and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The first project of the DE Foundation took place in Luwero in partnership with Ibero (a coffee exporting company, part of the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe), EDE Consulting and Plan. The project brings support for producer groups not only on coffee but also on maternal health care, food security, education, diversification of income etc. After the initial phase from 1999 to 2003, it was decided to add another phase towards organisational development.
Small-scale farmers, particularly in Uganda, sell such low volumes of coffee that individually they have very little influence on it is traded. Addressing the matter of small volumes is crucial for improvement to happen in places such as Luwero. This was done in two ways:
- Improving productivity.
- Form so-called farmer-owned and managed Depot Committees (DCs) where producers sell their coffee in a group, opening up local markets to competition. With aggregated volumes DCs suddenly became very interesting business partners to various traders. As a result, prices in some of the project areas increased by up to 20%.
A third phase is now being initiated with Ibero, the EU and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It aims to assist the 24 DCs to become part of a larger farmer-owned company called the Uganda Coffee Farmers Alliance (UCFA), with enhanced coffee production through quality improvement, good agricultural practices and as a result, better market access.
The project activities include:
- Forming and training DCs to become better organized and capable of providing more benefits to their members;
- Assisting DCs in accessing services such operational credit, training and farming inputs;
- Incorporating DCs into the UCFA;
- Training farmers in application of Good Agricultural Practices; and
- UTZ Certification.
Today, 24 DCs are active, selling increasing volumes of coffee to Ibero than before the project's inception and expanding their activities on bulk marketing to other products such as eggs and maize. Participating producers obtain around 20% higher prices than non-participating producers because of better quality coffee, certification and lower transaction costs. Project participants invest more resources in pruning, mulching, rain-water harvesting and re-planting than non-project participants. They realize on average 30% higher coffee yields per hectare. Attempts are also being made at getting the DCs and the UCFA to access services offered by national extension organisations in Uganda.