KAMPALA — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has endorsed the planned Nonda Coffee Park processing facility in Luwero District, describing the investment as a key step towards ending Uganda’s reliance on exporting unprocessed coffee and increasing earnings from the country’s leading agricultural export.
President Museveni met a delegation from Nonda Coffee Park led by Tonny Miiro Kibuuka, who briefed him on plans to establish a large-scale coffee processing and value addition facility aimed at processing Ugandan coffee before it reaches international markets.
“I welcome this investment because it is exactly what we have always been advocating for,” President Museveni said.
“Uganda should not continue exporting raw coffee. We must add value before export so that we create jobs, increase household incomes and earn more foreign exchange.”
The President pledged government support for the project, including mobilising coffee farmers to increase production in preparation for the expected demand from the facility.
“I congratulate them and wish them good luck,” he said.
Nonda Coffee Park, located in Luwero, is a $148 million investment developed in partnership with Saudi Arabia-based Ingazi Group. The facility is expected to process up to 35,000 metric tonnes of coffee annually, targeting markets including Saudi Arabia and other international destinations.
The project comes amid renewed government efforts to transform Uganda from a supplier of raw agricultural commodities into a producer of processed and branded products.
Uganda remains one of Africa’s largest coffee exporters, but a significant proportion of its coffee leaves the country as raw beans, limiting the value captured by farmers and local industries. Government officials have repeatedly argued that processing, roasting and branding coffee locally would create employment opportunities and increase foreign exchange earnings.
According to sector data, Uganda has exported more than 98 percent of its coffee in unprocessed form, despite coffee generating billions of dollars in export revenue in recent years. The government has set ambitious targets to increase coffee production to 20 million bags annually by 2030 as part of efforts to expand the sector.
Nonda Coffee said the Luwero facility is designed to address the value gap in the coffee chain by allowing Uganda to participate in processing and branding.
“Uganda exports raw, someone else roasts, someone else brands, someone else keeps the margin. We’re building the facility that changes that,” the company said following President Museveni’s endorsement.
The investment is expected to include coffee processing, packaging and other value addition activities, creating new opportunities for farmers, traders and young people seeking employment in the agricultural sector.
Coffee is Uganda’s leading export crop, supporting millions of smallholder farmers across the country. The government has increasingly promoted agro-industrialisation as a pathway to increase household incomes and reduce dependence on the export of raw materials.
