Throughout the different coffee farming districts, coffee seedlings ready for supply to farmers are on display, possibly catch the eye of the suspecting farmer.
Farmer experts now claim that not all coffee seedlings on display at the different nursery beds meet the standards.
Mr Eriya Ssembajwe Ssuubi, a retired agriculture officer and coffee farmer based at Namakofu village in Zirobwe Subcounty, Luweero District says the existing gap between the farmer extensionists and the farmers, coupled with the increasingly high demand for the coffee seedlings is a time bomb for coffee farmers that could easily plant substandard coffee seedlings.
‘A section of the coffee nursery operators have little knowledge about the different coffee varieties, soil conditions and are simply setting the suspecting farmers in a future irreversible trap that will be realized after a long period.
While the science of grafting and setting up the coffee nurseries is not very complex, a nursery operator should plant the standard seedlings.
Farmers are unable to differentiate between the right and wrong seedlings without help of coffee experts,’ he says.
It is now common to find a coffee nursery bed with ready seedlings set up within a period of one week at a section of the road reserve.
While the explanation could be that the seedlings were possibly transferred from mother seed beds, standards traceability is often compromised.
The coffee nursery operators are supposed to be licensed and supervised by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) but a likely loose supervision is blamed for the reported uncertified coffee nurseries, Mr Ssembajwe tells this publication.
But Mr Abdul Kato Ssembiro, a farmer based at Namayumba Subcounty in Wakiso District is among several of the unlucky farmers forced to replace more than 800 coffee tree plants at his coffee garden on the advise of a farmer extension worker after he fell victim to poor coffee variety seedlings purchased from a nursery operator.
‘After a period of three-years, despite application of fertilizers and ensuring that the plants remained disease free, the coffee trees yielded a few coffee beans. Independent coffee farmer experts that visited my garden explained that my garden had a mixture of coffee varieties that were not likely to give a good yield. I was advised to uproot the coffee trees and purchase seedlings from a certified nursery operator,’ he told this publication.
Ssembiro had spent at least Shs6m on the coffee garden that failed his plans. But he luckily owns separate coffee gardens earlier planted on a 3-acre piece of land with good coffee yields.
He now reminds farmers to seek expert advise from extension workers and experienced coffee farmers that can help locate the certified coffee seedlings’ nursery operators.
For Robusta Coffee nursery seedlings (Clonal) variety, farmers are advised to identify nursery operators with well established premises that include the working coffee nursery shed, nearby water source, coffee rooting shed, coffee hardening shed, office and store, rubbish pit, coffee working shed, coffee demonstration plot and a mother garden.
Mr Edward Bazira, a former supervisor staff under the defunct Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) says establishment of coffee nurseries must follow particular procedures that are later inspected by designated officials from the MAAIF.
‘For clonal coffee propagation, the operator should meet the standards before a certificate for propagation is issued. One must identify land near a water source, identify a mother garden for cuttings, and establish a working shed, propagation shed, hardening shed, a rooting shed, rubbish pit among other essential facilities,’ he says.
A certificate issued by MAAIF for certification must be displayed at the coffee nursery office while the different coffee varieties must be clearly marked at the nurseries, Bazira explains.
The government had a coffee seedlings distribution programme launched in 2014 where coffee seedlings sourced from certified coffee nursery operators were distributed to farmers.
But through the years and possibly because of the big demands that the government could not fulfill under the NAADS and Operation Wealth Creation, the seedlings distribution was scaled down.