Charles Ssebyala, former chairman of Luweero Municipal Council, has retired from politics. He has since tripled his visits to the family coffee farm following the boom in coffee sales. His 14-acre coffee plantation is the pride of the family after the recent bumper harvest of over 80 bags.

Fair market prices for the harvest inspire new family income projects. Ssebyala has already purchased more land, furnished his house and is looking forward to building a hotel on land he acquired in Wobulenzi Municipality, Luweero District.

“When you get a lot of money through hard-earned work, the excitement that comes with that money requires planning. I have already invested the money in concrete projects to increase family income.

Farmers should be able to own good houses and pay their children’s school fees. That’s what I did, among other projects,” he says.

As Luweero Municipal Council chairman in 2013, Ssebyala was already involved in the coffee growing project, but only on a four-acre plot of land.

Political pressure and meager income from his political office ate into the family income from rental homes and a medical clinic run by his wife. But with advice from friends, religious leaders and the Buganda kingdom who initiated the “Mwanyi terimba” or coffee is a safe business program, Ssebyala decided to expand his coffee acreage to at least 10 acres.

Ssebyala says keeping abreast of coffee market trends, combating diseases and planting disease-resistant varieties are the keys to sustaining coffee farms. “We didn’t have much land to expand the coffee plantation project. The first inaugural harvest was around 15 bags of coffee in 2017. At the time, the

the land under coffee cultivation was only about six acres,” he says.

Ssebyala says that in Uganda, farmers have long been relegated to the unemployed class, earning only to meet their domestic needs for food and clothing, but farmers have the ability to eclipse the working class of white-collar citizens . “I have always told my fellow farmers that we are not unemployed, but we are also employed in our gardens. As farmers, we must show the world that we are not unemployed and that we have the ability to survive through the garden. The coffee harvest will help us educate our children, build modest houses and lead a decent life,” he says.

Ssebyala had been in agriculture for around 30 years and had tried many other crops such as maize, beans and bananas, both for food and to earn money. But his discovery of coffee culture was a surprise.

“The coffee harvest reopens closed doors. I had assumed that politics was the way to shape my future, but God had a different direction. I didn’t make it to Parliament and I have no regrets about choosing the garden. The politburo gave me the social capital and the garden is my new office,” he says.

Ssebyala dreamed of representing Katikamu North constituency in the 11th legislature, but never gave up on his coffee dream, from which he collected money to meet the demands of his constituents.

But Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realized the value of growing coffee. “The more coffee producers there are in an area, the more secure our coffee plantations are, because we have people stealing fresh coffee beans from the plantations,” he says.

Ssebyala also agreed to the idea of ​​introducing organic manure generated by the new poultry project run by his family. “The poultry farm, which has around 300 birds, is still small, but we hope to triple the number of birds. The excreta from the poultry farm will be transferred to the coffee garden,” he says.

The hope of acquiring an irrigation pump for the coffee plantation is not lost, because due to the good price of coffee, Ssebyala is also planning to introduce an irrigation water pump to maintain the health of the coffee trees during dry seasons. Part of the land has remarkable soils, subject to heavy water loss during the dry period, he adds.

Ssebyala is happy that many farmers have realized the value of coffee and are busy planting the crop. The more coffee growers there are in an area, the more secure our coffee gardens become, because we have individuals who still keep fresh coffee beans in the gardens, he says.

Parts of the land where Ssebyala’s coffee garden is located require manure and he has now introduced organic manure generated by the new poultry project run by his family.

Ssebyala also plans to introduce an irrigation water pump to maintain the health of the coffee trees during the dry season. Part of the land has sandy soils which are subject to high water loss during the dry period.