Ntungamo — The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Eng. Jonard Asiimwe, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to promoting innovation and value addition in Uganda’s coffee industry during his first official visit to the Africa Coffee Park in Ntungamo District.
The visit, held on Friday, formed part of the minister’s familiarisation tour of institutions and projects supported by the Science, Technology and Innovation Secretariat.
Eng. Asiimwe was accompanied by officials from the Secretariat, including Under Secretary Peter Ourien, Superintendent for Industrial Value Chains Development Cosmas Mwikirize, Superintendent for Technical Support Services Carthy Muwumuza, and Team Lead for Productivity Acceleration Dr Joshua Isiko, among others.
The delegation was received by Dr Robert Limlim, Chairperson of the Inspire Africa Board, and Nelson Tugume, Chief Executive Officer of Inspire Africa Group, who conducted a tour of the facility.
The tour included the Inspire organic fertiliser plant at Nyabihoko, where coffee by-products and animal manure are processed into organic fertiliser, and the company’s water treatment plant at Kahengye along the Ntungamo–Rukungiri Road, which is expected to supply up to two million litres of water daily for factory operations.
The minister also toured the park’s coffee processing facilities, including roasting, spray drying and freeze-drying technologies that will be used to manufacture value-added coffee products.
Call to Expedite Electricity Connection
During the visit, Dr Limlim thanked the government for supporting the project but appealed for the fast-tracking of the industrial electricity connection to enable full-scale production.
“Honourable Minister, we thank the Government for the support so far. We have now sorted the issue of water. We are therefore requesting the Government to expedite the electricity line so that we can start industrial-scale production,” Dr Limlim said.
Inspire Africa Seeks Support for Local Coffee Consumption
Mr Tugume also expressed appreciation for government support and proposed measures to stimulate domestic coffee consumption.
He suggested introducing coffee into secondary schools as part of efforts to promote the crop locally.
“We are grateful to the Government of Uganda for its continued support. We are requesting that the Government starts to promote consumption of coffee in our schools. While in high school, we took tea every day. Why can’t we now have coffee in our secondary schools on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays? Coffee will give students the energy they need to study,” Tugume said.
He further called on the government to consider taxing imported coffee products once Uganda begins commercial production of soluble coffee, arguing that the measure would help protect the local industry.
Minister Commends Project
Eng. Asiimwe described the Africa Coffee Park as a strategic investment aligned with Uganda’s industrialisation agenda and efforts to increase value addition in agriculture.
“I am here to affirm that H.E. the President has a strong belief in this project and other science projects, and this is why he has deployed me in the sector because I am an innovator,” the minister said.
He said the project has the potential to transform Uganda’s coffee value chain, improve farmer incomes and strengthen the country’s competitiveness in international coffee markets.
The minister directed the Secretariat’s Department of Technical Support Services to develop a market strategy for the commercialisation of Inspire Coffee products.
He also pledged to propose a Cabinet policy requiring government institutions to serve Ugandan coffee during official meetings and events, while exploring the introduction of coffee in secondary schools.
In addition, Eng. Asiimwe instructed his technical team to expedite the valuation process required for the government to formalise its equity stake in the Africa Coffee Park, reflecting public investment made in the project.
Support for Coffee Farmers
During the visit, the minister addressed more than 100 coffee farmers who had toured the facility, assuring them of government support through improved market access and supply opportunities linked to the coffee park.
He also encouraged communities surrounding the project to invest in hospitality and other services that could benefit from increased economic activity generated by the industrial hub.
“Please build hotels and other facilities to support the activities of the park because this project will be receiving many visitors. We don’t want to leave you behind,” he said.
The Africa Coffee Park is a 150-acre industrial facility designed to process coffee into higher-value products, including freeze-dried instant coffee, coffee-based beauty products and energy drinks.
The project supports Uganda’s efforts to increase domestic value addition in the coffee sector, which has been identified as one of the priority agricultural value chains under the country’s Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV).