The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and World Coffee Research (WCR) have announced a €850,000 co-investment aimed at strengthening the coffee seed systems in Uganda. This three-year initiative brings together major industry players, including JDE Peet’s, The J.M. Smucker Co., and the Lavazza Foundation, to address long-term sustainability and supply chain resilience in Africa’s largest coffee exporter.
The project is designed to expand access to high-quality planting material, a move critical for Uganda to meet its national production target of 20 million bags annually by 2030.
Economic Impact and Disease Mitigation
The initiative focuses on combating significant biological threats to the sector, specifically coffee wilt disease (CWD) in robusta, as well as coffee leaf rust and coffee berry disease in arabica. Technical data indicates that the adoption of CWD-resistant varieties can increase smallholder farmer profits by up to 250%.
By replacing vulnerable crops with resilient varieties, the coalition aims to secure the livelihoods of millions of smallholders while ensuring a stable supply for the global coffee market.
Infrastructure and Capacity Building
The programme, implemented through the Advancing Climate-Resilience and Transformation in African Coffee Programme (ACT), outlines several key operational priorities to transform Uganda’s seed system infrastructure:
Production Scaling: The establishment of new robusta mother gardens and nurseries across Northern, Central, and Western Uganda. These facilities are expected to produce 460,000 high-yielding, CWD-resistant trees per year.
Genetic Purity Assurance: The project includes the genotyping of over 5,000 robusta mother garden plants. This ensures genetic conformity, providing commercial confidence that new seedlings will deliver predicted levels of resilience and productivity.
Technical Training: Collaboration with Uganda’s National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO) and the National Coffee Research Institute (NaCORI) to train local technicians in advanced propagation techniques.
Farmer Adoption: The creation of demonstration plots for both robusta and arabica hybrids to showcase performance and stimulate demand for high-performing planting material.
The Role of Public-Private Partnerships
The investment follows the 2024 G7 endorsement of increased public-sector engagement in agricultural R&D. Andrea De Marco, UNIDO Programme Manager, noted that the initiative demonstrates the efficacy of public-private partnerships in ensuring that innovation reaches the smallholder level.
Industry leaders emphasised that the collaboration is a necessary step for de-risking key origins. Dr. Jennifer "Vern" Long, CEO of World Coffee Research, stated that the commitment by JDE Peet’s, Lavazza, and J.M. Smucker validates the power of collective action to solve systemic global challenges that individual companies cannot address independently.
Uganda’s coffee sector remains a critical origin for the world’s largest roasters. By investing in the foundational "seed-to-farm" stage of the value chain, this coalition is attempting to future-proof the origin against climate volatility and endemic diseases. As the project enters its three-year implementation phase, the focus will remain on building a coffee sector that is both productive and commercially sustainable for the long term.
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