As you may have already heard, we - Patricia and I, Lorenz fromsortengold - were in Uganda at the end of 2021 for our mission to build sustainable agroecosystems. On the trip, we were able to strengthen relationships with our partners from the Miale-Tubana cooperative in eastern Uganda and make new contacts. Patricia was there from the perspective of her marketing studies and I was there from the perspective of agricultural science. In this article, we want to give you a little insight into our trip.
For the first few days we were welcomed by the German exiles Sina and Alex. Sina works for a German telecommunications company from her idyllic home office. Alex is the managing director of the East African Radio Station (EARS) . Radio is the most common medium in Uganda. Alex's company Ears Uganda has built up an independent network of radio stations locally, which informs the countrymen about relevant topics such as contraception, health and education. EARS supports us, among other things, in the search for local young professionals. EARS also introduced us to a young and local film production company called Recap Brandhouse.
In Mbale, on Mount Elgon in the east of the country, we were warmly welcomed by our partners from the Miale Tubana Mixed Farmer Cooperative. They maintain the endangered Nyasaland Arabica coffee variety. In the days that followed, we were able to witness the farmers joining the Slow Food Coffee Coalition and had a lot of conversations with the farmers - during which we had the processes on the farm explained to us in detail. We were also able to view the current harvest in the cooperative's warehouse.
After we spent the first part of the trip in the Arabica growing areas of Mount Elgon, the second part took us to the Robusta and Liberica growing areas in the Luwero and Mukono regions. In Mukono we visited the headquarters of Slow Food Uganda . In the gardens of the Kaggwa and Mubiru families we discovered indigenous coffee trees of the Kinsansa (sp. Liberica) and Nganda varieties (sp. Canephora), vanilla, cocoa and many local fruit, vegetable and herb plants. Our tour guides impressively demonstrated the importance of this diversity.
Our trip ended in Kampala, where we met the Deputy Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy, David Löw. In addition to many new contacts, we took kilos of samples, exciting coffees, beans and honey back to Germany. It was an intensive and exciting trip.
Our partner cooperative and we would be delighted to soon supply you with their coffee on a regular basis and to include you as consumers in a long-term partnership.