Uganda Coffee Agronomy Training

Sheema, Western Uganda

Uganda is one of the worldโ€™s top Robusta coffee producers with an estimated 1.8 million smallholders growing coffee. This is one of the largest populations of coffee farmers worldwide. At the same time, coffee yields in Uganda are among the lowest in the world with many growers living in poverty. The Uganda Coffee Agronomy Training (UCAT) program aims to support farmers to improve their coffee yields through a large-scale coffee agronomy training program. The program, implemented by the Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS) and TechnoServe trained approximately 60,000 farmers in Uganda over four years. About 12,000 of these farmers from six districts (Kibaale, Kagadi, Kyenjojo, Sheema, Mbarara and Ntungamo) were randomly selected to participate in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation. The evaluation, led by researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Harvard University, measured the impact of agronomy training on coffee yields.