UCDA 2019, table 1, p. 6: all KRs are given as resistant to rust and coffee wilt disease, tolerant to red blister

The Lake Victoria crescent is the original habitat of Ugandan canephora, and this is not a figure of speech: wild canephora still grows there, in the forests of the lake basin and in the Kibaale and Zoka-Adjumani reserves, over an estimated 150 to 400 hectares. The country grows a plant that is at home.

Commercial production begins in the early 1920s, after the Javanese introductions of 1910 and the pioneering work of the Kawanda station. A large planting program follows in the 1950s.

The curve that follows tells a political story as much as an agricultural one. The country exceeds 2 million bags in 1960 and reaches 3.7 million in 1972-73. Then it falls back to 2.1 million in 1991: aged trees, a failing market, neglected management. The liberalization of 1991 restarts the sector, which reaches 4.2 million bags in 1996-97.

Today, 1.7 million households grow coffee, which accounts for 20 to 30% of the country's export earnings. Of 104 coffee-growing districts, 60 grow only canephora, 13 only arabica, and 38 both.

Canephora represents about 80% of production, grown between 900 and 1,500 meters, at 1,200 meters on average. Keep this altitude in mind: it is unusual for a canephora, and it is what allows Uganda to sell a high-altitude canephora, at a premium.

UCDA, Robusta Coffee Handbook, 2019, § 1.0-1.3, p. 3-4, and § 2.2, p. 9; Kawuki et al. 2026, § 2.4 and table 1

The recommended varieties tell the recent history of the country, because each was chosen against the disease that threatened at the time of its release.

The “Elite,” recommended in 1995, is a mix of open-pollinated seeds. It yields 2,000 kg/ha, but it succumbs to rust, red blister and coffee wilt disease, that fungal disease that clogs the vessels of the tree. The six old clones (1s/2, 1s/3, 1s/6, 223/32, 257/53, 258s/24) reach 2,500 kg/ha and also remain susceptible to coffee wilt disease. The available material thus produced, but it died.

Since 2009, the National Coffee Research Institute of Kituza (NaCORI, which depends on NARO) has released ten NARO-Kituza Robusta clones. KR1 to KR7 in 2009, KR8 to KR10 in 2017. All are resistant to rust and coffee wilt disease, tolerant to red blister, with large beans and good cup quality. The announced yields range from 2,200 kg/ha for KR1 to 4,900 kg/ha for KR3. In 2019, NaCORI was still building up the plant stock of the last three, which were therefore not yet multipliable on a large scale.

The national roadmap aimed at 20 million bags in 2025, from 4.6. To get there, yield had to be multiplied by three or four and the share of commercial farmers raised from 10 to 65% by 2040.

Reality is below the target, but above anything the country had known. Uganda exported 7.7 million bags in 2024-25, or 462,000 tonnes, for 2.2 billion dollars. This is double the previous year.

UCDA 2019, § 1.1 and 1.4, p. 3-6, table 1; Ecofin Agency, “Uganda doubles export earnings to $2.2 billion in 2024/2025,” 2025; level: official manual and business press