REGIONAL NEWS NEW VISION, Tuesday, July 3, 2018 11 Farmers want coffee factory revamped ZOMBO Potential impact Wachal said the region has an Wachal says the renovation of estimated 14 million coffee trees with By Benedict Okethwengu the factory will not only create a total annual estimated output of employment, but will also improve the between 8,000 and 11,000 tonnes. Bernard Odong, 73, a resident of livelihoods of the people in the region. Of the coffee trees, 10.5 million of the Anyika village in Zombo district, cut He explained that the quality of estimated 54,000 farmers in Zombo down his coffee plantation, saying the Okoro Arabica coffee is second district alone. the earnings he got from it were not to that of Colombia, which produces He observed that in order to revamp adequate enough to enable him look the best Arabica coffee in the world. and promote the production of coffee after his family. He said he had been It is a soft-bean coffee, characterised and agriculture in West Nile region, forced to sell his coffee at a low price by fi ne, heavy body, low acidity and the Government should improve the to the private buyers, for years. rich fl avour. The qualities make it the transport infrastructure by extending Odong now grows bananas and most sought after coffee in Europe, the railway line from Pakwach to yams for a living. especially in Italy, says Claudio Rossi, Zombo and also tarmac Nebbi- Today, small scale coffee farmers in an Italian investor. Rossi had shown Paidha- Vurra-Oraba road so as to Zombo sell a kilogramme of coffee interest in investing and revamping open up Zombo to other markets and between sh4,000 and sh5,000, a price the defunct Ayuda factory, with the the neighbouring countries. Nemia Okwonga, 78, says does not hope of processing Okoro coffee for match the work put into growing the export. Ray of hope coffee. Alfred Okwong, a coffee dealer, says Wachal says the 3.5MW Nyagak Okwonga says the situation could farmers use rudimentary methods to hydro-power plant will enable the get better if the farmers had a strong process coffee, something that makes factory to operate at full capacity, other union and the Ayuda factory is also the product to lose value for export. than relying on the expensive diesel– revamped. He said in the mid 1990s Most of the hi-tech machinery in the defunct Ayuda coffee factory He explained that coffee is washed powered generators. He, however, says and 2000s, Zombo, especially Paidha has been idle since 2006, when the factory closed with water, and spread to dry making it the union lacks the sh88m required to town was the business hub of the West lose value. On average, a kilogramme connect power to the factory. Nile region. ghost of its glorious past. The equipment of coffee costs sh2,500 for the dry He added that with the support Okwonga said the driving force in Despite a sh294m Government The factory has four polishers, each one and sh1,500 for wet coffee (green from We-Effect, formerly Swedish Co- Zombo in the past years, was the now bailout through a loan from the having a capacity of 3.6 tonnes a day. coffee). Okwong adds that much of operative Centre, the union will soon defunct Ayuda Coffee Factory, which African Development Bank, the It also has a hopper that directs the the coffee is transported to Mbale and gain the lost glory. was owned by Okoro Coffee Growers factory closed shop in 2006 due to coffee for pre-cleaning and destining Kampala, for processing. He explained that the union has Union. high operational costs and allegations before it is delivered to the silos and, Wachal said renovation of the factory launched a fi ve-year programme to “Our life was better. We educated of mismanagement. fi nally, to the hulling machines. will not only improve coffee output in revamp the facilities and the primary our children by selling coffee to the According to Gilbert Wachal, the The hulling machines are from the West Nile region, but also give a societies. union without being cheated, as it is manager of Okoro Coffee Growers Mckinnon & Co. Limited of Aberdeen, better farm-gate price to the estimated Grace Kwiyucwiny, the state minister the practice today,” he adds. Co-operative Union, the factory has Scotland, a renowned manufacturing 15,000 farmers in the region. for northern Uganda who is also Until early 2000, Paidha was a remained idle, with all its hitech company. The factory used to process coffee Zombo Woman MP, said they had vibrant town. Its lifeblood was the equipment since then. The plant also has an automatic from farmers of Paidha, Jangokoro, embarked on a campaign to encourage Okoro growers coffee processing plant The fi rst attempt to rehabilitate grading system as well as a weighing Warr, Agremach, Nyapea, Atyak and farmers to plant more coffee seedlings, at Ayuda, one-and-a-half kilometres the plant was in 1984, by Notay machine. From 2005 to 2006, UNEX the surrounding areas of DR Congo, adding that with support from Uganda outside the town. Engineering Industries and Jass (U) Limited purchased and processed which improved the household Coffee Development Authority, they However, the multi-billion factory, Construction before the Government coffee at the plant. income and people’s standards of have distributed over 70,000 coffee established in the 1970s, is now a bailout in 1987. living. seedlings in the district.