Muhangi Hills Coffee: Discussing the Coffee Sector in Uganda with Dr Ian Clarke

Interview with Dr Ian Clarke, Founder of Muhangi Hills Coffee (Clarke Group)

What is the current state of coffee in Uganda in terms of impact by COVID-19?

We are building a coffee processing plant on the farm. Now, we have just received the equipment and we are in the process of setting it up. It is a processing plant not for roasting but for washing. This washing station is how we get better quality coffee. The coffee market from my end went down for high quality coffees because of COVID as a lot of the coffee shops are closed. Coffee going to the supermarkets, which is the lower end, is selling fine. But the coffee that was going to Starbucks and those kinds of places has really gone down. The quality coffee was being sold more through the coffee shops and that market was hard hit. First of all, they were closed, and then secondly, even when they are open, people really do not want to go and sit in a place so there are more people staying at home. We are not sure how far into 2021 this will continue.

What is your goal getting into the coffee sector?

By the beginning of next year, I want to have developed the coffee processing plant and really be significant in terms of the amount of coffee I produce.

My interest in coffee is actually to see Uganda produce higher quality coffee. And then not only get the volume, but get better income from farmers. We are the largest coffee exporter in Africa, bigger than Ethiopia. Ethiopia produces more coffee, but they drink their own coffee. So, they export less than we do. Ethiopian coffee is high end as well. But Uganda is what they call “the home of Robusta.” There are two grades of coffee: Robusta and Arabica. Coffee drinkers like to drink Arabica. But in fact, if you are in Italy, and in many other countries now, if you put a bit of Robusta into it, you get a much higher caffeine hit. I have just packaged some nice, pure Robusta and it grades as five stars in terms of caffeine. It is one that if you are not careful with it, it will blow your head off. But, in terms of what I want to do in Uganda as “the home of Robusta” is to get them producing more good quality Robusta, that then gets blended in for high end coffee and we will get better prices for it.

Are you looking to attract investors to your coffee project?

I do have investors in the farm. There is a fund which was set up by the European Union in the structure of a private equity fund, but it is investment for development, which is the way some of these organizations are going now, which is very good. It is a debt investment, but it is structured in a way in which they have a board member and we have goals to meet. That is working very nicely for me, because that is how I am financing the coffee processing plant. I planted out something like 700 acres of coffee and now it is quite a lot of coffee trees. I am very positive about those kinds of investments. One of the issues for a lot of Ugandan businesses is that they are not set up well, in terms of the bookkeeping, transparency, and so on. So, that becomes an issue.

What is the next step for coffee?

By the beginning of next year, I want to have developed the coffee processing plant and really be significant in terms of the amount of coffee I produce. My farm (Clarke Farm) is very beautiful. It is 1500 acres of rolling hills, countryside, and rivers. There are rivers there that I did not even know I had. When we cut back all the bush and everything, we discovered these lovely flowing, babbling brooks. I feel like I am in Northern Ireland sometimes when I walk along. What I want to do there is develop coffee tourism. I want to build a lovely guest house on my farm. I would have two types of tourism: one would be educational, more for the local farmers and maybe school groups; and then the other one would be the high end tourism where we would invite you to come and you pay to drive around in a Jeep on my farm and see coffee from the seed to the nursery to the green bean and then roast, then buy some and take it home with you. That is what I would like to do in 2021 and 2022. It is not very ambitious, but I think it would be nice.

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