Robusta Coffee Nursery Seedling Multiplication Program in Mid-Northern Uganda

Robusta Coffee Nursery Seedling Multiplication Program in Mid-Northern Uganda

Robusta Coffee Nursery Seedling Multiplication Program in mid-Northern Uganda: Opportunities and Challenges.

Undoubtedly, coffee that was introduced in the mid-North sub-region on a pilot basis by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) in 2001 has so far received a positive response from agricultural households. Some farmers consider it as a crop that will not only enhance their incomes but also enhance their food security. There are many factors that have contributed to this positive response. Although, this brief focuses on Robusta coffee nursery seedling multiplication program supported by the UCDA.The success has been through working partnerships with 132 low-cost-low- input private nursery operators - transferring high performing seedlings to farmers in a cost effective way across 14 districts in the sub-region. Yet, the level of success in seed multiplication has varied across districts and this has implications for the quality of seed that the farmers receive. The clonal coffee mother garden at the Zonal Agricultural Development Institute, Ngetta produces half the seedlings required to satisfy the demand from the nurseries in the sub-region. The deficit in seed supply within the sub-region prompted UCDA to contract private seed multipliers to fill the gap. However, this additional layer of players in the seed multiplication by UCDA has come with challenges –in terms of low quality of seed and yield attributes compared to those from the mother garden. UCDA and the Coffee Research Institute (CoRI) need to expand the capacity of the clonal mother garden at Ngetta to ensure that the seed multiplication value chain adheresto best practices for better results in the coffee seed multiplication and propogation system.

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• Published May 22, 2014