Nairobi — A replanting programme has reversed years of declining production in Uganda's coffee sub-sector, pushing year-on-year exports of the commodity 50 per cent over 2007 and earnings to $362 million.

The surge is attributed to improved higher-yielding coffee beans from newly planted trees under the government's replanting programme, which involved replacing millions of coffee-trees that were affected by the coffee wilt disease in the 1990s.

"A replanting programme has tried to salvage the situation in that the volume of the export has not declined and the negative trend has been reversed," David Kiwanuka, a manager at Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), said

A report from UCDA shows production of 3.2 million bags of coffee worth Ush586.4 billion ($362 million) between October 2007 and September 2008; compared with 2.5 million bags worth Ush386 billion ($238 million) in the previous period.

At the farm gate, prices ranged between Ush1,300 ($0.74) and Ush1,400 ($0.8) per kilo of dry robusta cherries while the fair to average quality (FAQ) sold at between Ush2,750 ($1.57) and Ush2,950 ($1.68).

However, some progressive farmers organised under NUCAFE that practices bulk marketing received as much as Ush3,200 ($1.8) per kilo of FAQ.

Meanwhile, arabica coffee fetched the highest farm gate price with a kilo fetching between Ush2,600 ($1.48) and Ush3000 ($1.7). Mr Kiwanuka attributed the good price to high quality.

According to the report, a rise in farm gate prices has stimulated demand for coffee plantlets, which is likely to result in higher productivity.

Locally, Kiboko (dry robusta cherries) ranged between Ush1,300 ($0.7) and Ush1,400 ($0.8) per kilo while FAQ fetched Ush3,000 ($1.7).

On the international market, the coffee was graded, with arabica fetching a higher price of $2.40 per kilo compared with robusta, which fetched $2.14 per kilo.

In August, the top five exporters held a market share of 64 per cent, up from 57 per cent in July, as a result of increased competition. The exporters are Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd, Kawacom, Ugacof, Savannah Commodities and Kampala Domestic Store.

European Union countries bought the biggest share of coffee followed by Sudan, India, Switzerland, USA, Singapore, Japan China, Israel and Australia.

The coffee wilt disease affected about 55 per cent of the robusta coffee trees. Robusta and Arabica are the two types of coffee grown in Uganda.

A monthly report issued by Uganda Coffee Development Authority reveals that, in the past 12 months, coffee exports totalled 3.18 million bags worth $362 million.

This shows a rise of 19 per cent and 52 per cent in value and volume respectively, compared with 2.5 million bags worth $238 million recorded in the same period last year.

UCDA had projected a further increase to reach 3.20 million bags by the end of September 2008.

The report attributes the increase in exports to the replanting programme under the government's strategic export programme, which is coming into full production.

The replanting is going on in coffee wilt affected areas, alongside replacement of the aged unproductive trees and supporting introduction of commercial coffee production in new areas of northern and northeastern Uganda and the districts of Kisoro and Kabale.

Coffee is one of the country's leading foreign exchange earners, contributing between 20 and 30 per cent to the Ugandan economy.

The sector is almost entirely dependent on about 500,000 smallholder farmers, 90 per cent of whose farms range from less than 0.5 to 2.5 hectares. The coffee industry employs over 3.5 million families through coffee related activities, according to UCDA.