COMFARNET COMUNITY FARMERS NETWORK.

Coffee For Life

Comfarnet Concept Uganda LTD

About us:

COMFARNET is a farmer’s organization established to help smallholder farmers navigate challenges to Agro Business profitability and rekindle interest in production and consumption of coffee.

It was established in 2001 and registered as a private limited company with the registrar of companies and rebranded in 2009.

Vision:

To operate a business Transformation Mode to transit small Holder farmers into middle class Status using coffee as a medium.

Mission:

Improve Family house Hold income through commercial active participation in the coffee value chain activities.

COMFARNET has both Business and social Approach.

Goal: Produce 5.85m 60kg bags of coffee Annually with in 5yeares and contribute to the coffee production to 20m bags by 2030

Coverage:

COMFARNET works with farmers in wakiso, Lwengo,Nakaseke, Kiboga & kalungu East

Focus: Youth and women empowerment

THE COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION MODEL

  • Produce coffee profitability and sustainability
  • Ensure all year round income integrated with other enterprises
  • Tenants family into stable and improved income
  • Mobilize families into production income
  • Inspire Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  • Improves coffee Quality and quantity

CTM: What does it address?

  • Focus on declining interests in the coffee Business
  • Poor soil fertility & pest and disease management
  • Poor agricultural practices & low yield per Tree
  • Poor post handling practices that affect quality
  • Innovation and value Addition
  • Knowledge management and sharing
  • Aggregating volumes and accessing Better paying markets
  • Increased Domestic coffee consumption.

LAND SCAPE OF THE COFFEE SUB SECTOR.

  • Coffee is mostly Grown by smaller farmers
  • The coffee sector must grow.
  • Farmers struggle to cover production costs
  • Farmers face adversity with changing climate
  • Middle man exploitation and quality issues continues to scourge coffee production
  • Transformation begins from Govt, Private sector and then farmers.

CTM: Strategic Approach.

  • Family mobilization, Orientation, skilling and certification in line with UCDA Guidelines.
  • Farmer skilling and Training
  • Production and distribution of high quality inputs in collaboration with partners such as UCDA.
  • Promotion and transfer of value addition techniques including availability of necessary infrastructure to enable adoption
  • Demand creation for low end coffee consumption
  • Digital profiling & traceability; competence management; M & E of the process with evidence or impact on community.
  • Seek & strengthen partnerships with stake holders & potential partners.
  • Segmenting market into Domestic, regional, international
  • Establish regional Hubs to manage intervention Roll out.

BENEFICIARIES.

  • PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES

These include small holder farmers, coffee exports Nursery operators, Processors, Aggregators or exporters and end user Industries.

  • Secondary beneficiaries

These include

Gou,MAAIF,UCDA among others.

BENEFITS

PRIMARY BENEFICIARIES.

  • Small holder farmers
  • Increased coffee production
  • Increased income roots sales
  • Strengthening existing linkages as farmers and other actors engage frequently and intensively
  • An enabling environment for innovation.
  • An enabling environment for innovation oriented entrepreneurship
  • Employment opportunities
  • Enhanced knowledge and skills in coffee agricultural practices
  • Improved quality of life through increased ability to afford quality to afford quality services processors
  • Good quality coffee processed foe end user industries

Assured sustainable supply

BENEFITS

Secondary Beneficiaries

  • Reduced poverty levels
  • Increased foreign exchange from coffee sales
  • Capital and improved political Fortunes from Happy beneficiaries
  • Creation of more Jobs  & Increased taxation base with more incomes sustainable  livelihoods for sections of population (Better statics /) among the e6districs AAIF
  • Proof for scale to guide agricultural sector
  • Realization of the coffee roadmap.
  • Value addition and access to better markets for small Holder
  • Political and technical ownership of projects benefits
  • Increased coffee Quality and quantity
  • Progress towards attainment of targets e.g. Increased coffee consumption per capita from 360g to 500g.
  • Entry of new farmers into coffee production expansion of coffee sector
  • Renewed interest of coffee among population/farmers

Project output & partners

OutPut:

  • The key project out put the production of 5.85m bags of 60kg with in 5years realizing over US $ 696m annually.
  • Employment Output: 1502730 Jobs

CO- PARTNERS

  • NARO – NACORI
  • DLGs
  • CURAD
  • MEDIA
  • EIGHT TECH CONSULTS LTD
  • ADC – SOUTH AFRICA
  • BASK ORGANICS

OPPORTUNITIES

  • CTM Fits into the GoU’s Development plans such as Vision 2040 and is aligned similarly, it is consistent with the national coffee – sub- sector as encapsulated in NDP11 similarly, and it is consistent with the national coffee Road map.
  • An existing policy frame work favoring a revamp of the coffee sector.
  • A farmer population that is eager to make money from farming.
  • 7m Households already grow coffee.
  • Pro – active and willing technical partners in the roll out of this program like ministry of Agriculture, animal industry and fisheries (MAAIF)
  • Uganda Global competitive advantage in coffee production; and reputation of Uganda’s Coffee on the world market.

ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE.

  • Mobilize farmers in 6 districts
  • Our average Female composition is 80%; and the Youth comprise 75%
  • Farmers training with organizations such as Curad
  • A vast network of partners to effectively address smallholder coffee farmers’ issues.
  • Developed a livelihood Transformation Model.
  • Specialty COMFARNET and MAAIF have sa working arrangement in progress through a
  • Working with Eight tech consults ltd for developing the IT component of COMFARNET operations

CHALLENGES.

  • COMFARNET is operating on limited funds
  • Aces to quality farm in puts
  • Lack of traceability and profiling of farmers.
  • Knowledge management and sharing
  • Partnerships to put a system and structure to steer/manage this program

AREAS OF COLLABORATION.

  1. Technological transfer, technical guidance and cooperation
  2. Farmer capacity building and empowerment
  3. Access to good quality farm in puts and services
  4. Knowledge management and information sharing
  5. Financial resource mobilization and tailor – made financial inclusion
  6. Youth and gender inclusion in the coffee value chain activities
  7. Research and development
  8. Value addition systems and processing
  9. Public and private partnership
  10. Soil management system.

PRAYER       

  • Quality in puts such as coffee plantings
  • COMFARNET needs finances and logistical support to roll out these interventions
  • Machinery and values addition equipment
  • Would like technical assistance of partners to roll out this program me.