Uganda
Forecasts call for coffee exports, aided by good weather and increased acreage of mature trees, to climb about 16% during the 2019-2020 crop year.
That’s the recent report from Uganda’s state-run Coffee Development Authority. In all, the crop year, which ends in September 2020, may reach 5.1 million 60-kg bags. The previous year’s total was 4.4 million bags.
“We had a good crop last year and we expect even a higher production this year on account of favorable weather,” authority official James Kizito Mayanja told Reuters. “Also, the planting program is starting to bear fruit because we are seeing most of the trees that were planted are now maturing.”
The Ugandan government has emphasized a planting program in recent years as a way to increase coffee exports. Farmers were given free seeds to expand acreage and replace unproductive trees. The nation then recorded heavy rainfall in recent months in the coffee-rich regions. As a result, farmers saw good flowering and bean formation.