Farmers - Uganda, White Nile

The Region

For those who are tried and true coffee hunters of the world, to find this rare coffee from Uganda, the "Perl of Africa", they would travel to the northwest part of the country toward Sudan in the Nebbi district of the Blue Mountains, which borders the Congo and over looks the confluence of the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile. The river in this area forms part of what is called the White Nile which then joins the Blue Nile in Sudan. The whole of this region is very remote and remains largely unchanged in terms of agricultural practices since the first coffee tree was ever planted. Coffee is the main cash crop of this part of the country.

The coffee itself is grown at about 4500 feet, with plentiful rainfall and rich soils, which is why this area was selected for Ugandas first organic coffee project. This very rare Okoro Washed Arabica coffee occurs only in this small region of the world.

The People

Visiting this area you would meet the Alur people, of the Luo tribe. These people moved from southern Sudan several centuries ago. They live in low mud huts with conical straw roofs. You would enter a village homestead called a shamba. Throughout the area, you will see that the traditions and the way of life of these people are unchanged by modern day life as we know it. Each family has its own plot of land (most often less than 1.5 acres), and it requires the participation's of the whole family to farm the land. At harvest time, the family get together and selectively handpicks the ripened cherries from the trees and then sun dry them on specially made straw mats under the hot equatorial sun.

The coffee trees are intercropped with traditional food crops and shade tree which offer protection for the many birds that help rid the coffee of insects. Due to the political turmoil in Uganda between 1972 and 1986, and for a number of years after, the coffee industry was completely crippled. It is only now that people are rediscovering the potential of the Okoro Arabica coffee. The total number of farmers in our coffee project is 45,000 plus their families. Through the development of this project, the buying has changed, the farmers no longer sell to middlemen. The coffee is purchased directly from the farmers, and the coffee collected and monitored during the processing to ensure the quality standards. By working directly with the growers, they are now able to receive premium prices. This has also allowed for a team of field officers to work with the farmers to teach them how to improve their organic production. In this way, farmers may learn to improve yields and quality, as well as overall performance of the farm as a whole. The farmers appreciate the benefits of this project as they realize their incomes are rising and the agricultural support is genuinely benefiting them.

The Coffee

The KRAV certified organic Okoro Arabica coffee is grown in clumps under the sprawling arms of the Banyans tree, whose bark is harvested once a year to manufacture a famous bark cloth of the Baganda Kings. Used to honor royal and religious festivities, the bark cloth is a symbol of the farmers devotions to traditions. This same devotion is reflected in the care applied to growing and harvesting this fine quality coffee. This, the rarest of coffees, offers delicate, smokey tones with the slightest hints of fruit and spice, with medium body and slight acidity. This is a rare and limited edition of coffee that is now in the warehouse and ready for you! Imagine yourself as a coffee hunter who has discovered the secret gift of the White Nile.

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