Uganda’s coffee flowering, an indicator of crop size, was enhanced in July, owing to rains in the nation’s southern and south-western regions, according to the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises.
The two regions may get a bumper harvest in 2014-15 if the country doesn’t suffer adverse weather in the coming months, David Muwonge, the deputy executive director, said by phone from the capital, Kampala. The regions account for at least 40 per cent of the annual crop.
Good weather in the main producing central and eastern regions, where harvesting will start around October, may boost the bean size of the main crop, he said. While the nation’s meteorological department doesn’t provide rainfall data to the organisation, there has been more precipitation this year, he said.
“We have had above-normal rains, and this could lead to a bumper crop in the south and south-western [regions] next year,” he said, referring to 2014-15.
The main harvest in the southern and south-western [regions] starts from May to June and runs through July, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority, the regulator’s website.
Uganda mainly ships beans to the European Union, the US, Sudan, Switzerland, India, Japan and Russia. The robusta variety accounted for 78 per cent of shipments in 2012-13, according to the authority. Robusta beans are used in instant coffee.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
