By Eriah Lule
Early this year, the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) reported that the country’s coffee export revenue has risen to $115 million from the exported 413,221 60-kg (132 lb.) bags of coffee, in December 2024. Uganda is among the top 10 coffee exporters worldwide, and second in Africa after Ethiopia, according to Ugandan Stewart Ategeka’s study published on Research Gate titled, Trend Analysis of Uganda’s Coffee Sector 2024.
Such data, growing at an exponential rate, triggered Nkundizana Epaphra Muhammed to join the Uganda coffee industry.
His journey began with pursuing and, in 2021, receiving, a Bachelors of Agriculture and Entrepreneurship from Uganda Christian University (UCU).
“The desire to help out coffee communities by adding value addition components to improve their standards of living was my absolute motivation,” Epaphra said.
The 29-year-old is the quality controller of the robusta plant at UGACOF LTD. This leading coffee processor and exporter in Uganda is a subsidiary of Sucafina in Switzerland and a multinational coffee merchant and a premier supplier of East African coffee with operations in 32 countries, including Uganda.
Epaphra analyses, monitors and oversees all quality aspects in the production line until coffee is loaded in containers for export.
“I carry out cupping, which is the sensory evaluation of coffee to trace the quality and origin of the coffee,” he said. “I also participate in arranging coffee samples for Uganda Coffee Development Authority inspectors for laboratory analysis before they issue us certificates for exporting the coffee.”
In one of his engagements with the media, David Kasura-Kyomukama, the Permanent Secretary at MAAIF, noted that Uganda continues to expand its footprint in the international coffee market. Authorities focus on improving production standards, enforcing regulations and supporting farmers with better extension services. Kyomukama warned that all actors in the coffee value chain must comply with existing quality control measures to avoid penalties.
“The public is hereby informed that all the mechanisms, including enforcement, that existed before the rationalization of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) into MAAIF remain in full effect,” he emphasized.
Epaphra credits his education at UCU for changing his perspective from seeing agriculture as a work profession to a life-wealthy project. Course units like Agribusiness were a game changer. Throughout the various outreach and demonstration programs, the Faculty of Agriculture sharpened its students’ workplace skills.
“Community outreach programs and the demonstration gardens that were set up by the faculty enlightened me how agriculture is a gold mine for wealth,” he added.
He believes that adoption of modernized agricultural farming techniques to elevate farmers from subsistence farming and value addition is the only way to generate an appealing income from agriculture yet pushing Uganda’s coffee to compete favorably on the global market. He envisions being a prominent farmer in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Epaphra’s love for coffee is sweeping. In March 2024 and before joining UGACOF, he applied with the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (currently liquidated into MAAIF), pursued a short course in basic coffee quality control that ran for one month, passed and became a certified coffee quality controller by Uganda Coffee Development Authority.
“l was unemployed at the time, l started selling some ground and roasted coffee beans to survive,” he said. “I later wrote to the quality manager asking him to be around UCDA as l do more practice and experience other hands-on activities. It is the exposure and experience gained at UCDA that helped me land a job at UGACOF.”
Born to Ndinda Epaphra and Nyangoma Annet of Kagadi District in the western part of the country, Epaphra is the first born and the only boy of the couple’s six children.
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