The slump in world coffee prices is forcing coffee farmers in Mbale to look to the farming of alternative cash crops as a source of income, the Manager of Bugisu Main Coffee Traders Company has said.
Speaking at the closing of a three-day agricultural trade fair in Mbale, Godfrey Muwonge said coffee profits in the district are declining annually. He said the failure to breakeven, particularly for smallholders, is aggravated by dishonest middlemen who are trading in immature coffee beans.
//Cue in: iThe problem #i
Cue out: i# avoid the middleman.i//
Coffee farmers say the price per kilo of coffee has dropped from 6,000 shillings last year to 2,000 shillings today. They have asked Government to intervene to protect them from the slump in world coffee trade.
Coffee is the world's second-most traded commodity, after oil, with annual sales around 55 billion dollars.
