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.
- Technological transfer, technical guidance and cooperation
- Farmer capacity building and empowerment
- Access to good quality farm in puts and services
- Knowledge management and information sharing
- Financial resource mobilization and tailor – made financial inclusion
- Youth and gender inclusion in the coffee value chain activities
- Research and development
- Value addition systems and processing
- Public and private partnership
- 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.