Ssebyala’s golden harvest: how coffee farming changed the former mayor’s life

Former Luweero Municipal Council chairman Charles Ssebyala has retired from politics at the farm. He has since tripled his visits to the family coffee farm in the wake of the coffee sales boom. His 14 hectare coffee plantation is the pride of the family after the recent record harvest of more than 80 bags.

The prevailing fair market prices for the crop inspire new family income projects. Ssebyala has already purchased more land, furnished his house and is looking forward to building a hotel on the land he acquired from Wobulenzi Municipal Council in Luweero District.

“When you get good money from the hard-earned work, the excitement that comes with the good money requires planning. I have already invested the money in tangible projects to increase the family income.

Farmers should be able to own good houses and pay school fees for their children. This is what I did, among other things,” he says.

As chairman of the Luweero Municipal Council in 2013, Ssebyala was already involved in the coffee farming project, but only on a four-hectare plot of land.

Political pressure and the meager income from his political office eat into the family income from rental properties and a medical clinic run by his wife. But with advice from friends, religious leaders and the Buganda Kingdom which declared the ‘Mwanyi terimba’ or coffee is good programme, Ssebyala decided to expand his coffee acreage to at least 4 hectares.

Ssebyala says staying abreast of coffee market trends, disease control and planting disease-resistant varieties are key to sustaining coffee plantations. “We didn’t have much land to expand the coffee farm project. The first first harvest in 2017 amounted to approximately 15 bags of coffee. At the time the amount was

land under coffee was only about six hectares,” he says.

Ssebyala says farmers in Uganda have long been relegated to the unemployed class, earning only to meet their domestic needs for food and clothing. Yet the farmers have the ability to outcompete the white-collar working class of citizens. “I have always told fellow farmers that we are not unemployed, but that we are just as active in our gardens. We, as farmers, must show the world that we are not unemployed and have the ability to survive through the garden. The coffee harvest will help us educate our children, build modest houses and live a decent life,” he says.

Ssebyala had been engaged in farming for about thirty years and had tried many other crops, such as maize, beans and banana, both for food and money. But his discovery of the coffee crop was a surprise.

“The coffee harvest reopens the closed gates. I had assumed that politics was the way to shape my future, but God had a different direction. I didn’t make it to Parliament and I don’t regret choosing the garden. The political office gave me the social capital and the garden is my new office,” he says.

Ssebyala harbored the dream of representing Katikamu North Constituency in the 11th Parliament but never abandoned his coffee dream from which he raised funds to meet the demands of his constituents.

But Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realized the value of the coffee crop. “The more coffee farmers there are in an area, the safer our coffee gardens are, because there are people stealing fresh coffee beans from the gardens,” he says.

Ssebyala has also taken up the idea of ​​introducing organic fertilizer generated from the new poultry project run by his family. “The poultry farm with approximately 300 birds is still small, but we hope to triple the number of birds. The droppings from the poultry farm go to the coffee garden,” he says.

The hope of purchasing an irrigation pump for the coffee farm is not lost. Due to the good price of coffee, Ssebyala is also considering introducing an irrigation water pump to maintain the health of the coffee trees during the dry periods. Some of the country has fine soils that are prone to high water loss during the dry period, he adds.

Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realized the value of coffee and are busy planting the crop. The more coffee farmers there are in an area, the safer our coffee gardens become, because there are people who still have fresh coffee beans in the gardens, he says.

Parts of the land where Ssebyala’s coffee garden is located need fertilizer and he has now introduced organic fertilizer sourced from the new poultry project run by his family.

Ssebyala is also thinking of introducing an irrigation water pump to maintain the health of the coffee trees during the dry season. Part of the country has sandy soils that are sensitive to major water loss during the dry period.