26 August – Uganda has announced it intends to outstrip Columbia and Vietnam in production of Robusta coffee by planting high-yielding clonal coffee trees in place of older varieties.
President Yoweri Museveni unveiled the plan at an investor’s forum in the country’s second city of Entebbe this week, urging businesses to make Uganda an attractive investment destination.
A Government statement said the president was optimistic Uganda could overtake rival industries in South America and Asia in coffee production stakes.
Uganda’s replanting programme, that began in 2001 and so far includes 150 million Robusta trees, first bore fruit last year.
Up to 20 million trees are to be planted every year until 2015, the country’s Coffee Development Authority said, with output forecast to hit four million 60kg bags in 2010, compared to 2.7 million last year.