Mt Elgon Gibuzale

Mt Elgon Gibuzale

Kyagalanyi is one of the entities tapping into this budding potential and making it possible for smallholders to participate in specialty markets. In Uganda, they operate three sustainable Arabica washing stations. The largest of these washing stations is located in the Mt. Elgon region, a programme that incorporates processing infrastructure with agricultural extension services.

One of the key areas covered by the programme is Gibuzale. Situated at 1,900 metres above sea level, Gibuzale washing station is the highest and most remotely located washing station operated by Kyagalanyi. 934 smallholder farmers from around the region deliver coffee cherry here. They are organised into 41 UTZ certified farmer groups, many of which have been running since 2008. Roughly, a total of 270 smallholder producers delivered cherries for this particular Gibuzale lot.

All participating producers are smallholders whose families have grown coffee for generations. The average farm size is only around 1 hectare, and on this land most families also grow a variety of subsistence crops such as matooke (cooking banana) and fruit trees, beans, peas, millet and coco yam. Although matooke is also an important cash crop, coffee is the more valuable source of income for most families, particularly for livelihood improvement investment. It represents about 80% of the farm acreage and provides the cash flow required for large investments (school fees, livestock, land, house construction etc.), whereas matooke provides a week-on-week regular cash flow for smaller day-to-day purchases.