Promoting the commercial growth of Coffea Liberica to strengthen climate-resilience of Ugandan coffee farmers

Project lead

© B. Lammel | Bundesfoto GbR Antony Mugoya, Uganda Coffee Farmers Alliance, Kampala, Uganda in cooperation with

© B. Lammel | Bundesfoto GbR Prof. Dr. Christoph Gornott, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, & Kassel University, Witzenhausen, Germany and

© B. Lammel | Bundesfoto GbR Sophie von Loeben, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany

Project description

The coffee sector is an important part of the East African economy. Countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda are among the largest coffee exporters in the world. However, coffee cultivation is extremely vulnerable to climatic changes, which threatens the livelihoods of large sections of the population in East Africa.

The Liberica coffee plant, which is grown by some farmers in Uganda, is resistant to drought and pests. However, its quality, especially the flavour of the coffee, has so far been poor due to unsuitable harvesting and post-processing steps. By optimising the production, harvesting and processing methods, however, the quality can be significantly improved, the economic potential of Liberica coffee can be increasingly exploited and the livelihoods of farmers in East Africa and around the world can be improved.

As part of the ProLiCo project, various harvesting and post-harvesting processes along the entire value chain are being analysed with a view to optimisation potential so that a high-quality Liberica coffee export product can be created in future. Farmers are then supported in implementing the knowledge gained in order to improve the quality of their Liberica coffee.

Research results and developed strategies will then be made available to the public so that other farmers can diversify their coffee production, improve the quality of their coffee product and make their production more resilient to climate change. This gives farmers access to the speciality coffee market and provides them with additional income.

Mr Antony Mugoya receives the German-African Innovation Award (GAIIA) for his excellent agricultural research in the field of coffee cultivation in combination with a convincing proposal for a German-African cooperation project that further develops these research results into use-oriented solutions.

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