Knowledge for Development

Uganda's coffee sector works towards a climate resilient value chain

Author:

Date: 10/04/2014

Introduction:

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD, Canada), along with Uganda's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (MoTIC), Makerere University (MAK), and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) worked together during a six-month period in 2013 to provide a platform for dialogue on climate risk management among actors along the coffee value chain. The study found that climate hazards such as droughts, floods and changing rainfall patterns already negatively affect all actors along the coffee value chain, but in different ways and to different extents. Results also showed that coffee farmers and processors generally tend to be more vulnerable to climate hazards than traders, middlemen and exporters, due to their limited diversification, weak organisational capacities and the unfavourable policy environment. As a result of this pilot initiative, for the first time in Uganda, climate risks were integrated into trade-related issues at the ministerial level. A related briefing note has been published 'Promoting an Integrated Approach to Climate Adaptation: Lessons from the coffee value chain in Uganda'.   

http://www.iisd.org/media/press.aspx?id=270   

(IISD, 18/03/2014)