Uganda employs Korean expert to improve quality of coffee exports

The government of Uganda is prioritizing quality control measures for coffee production and seeking the expertise of a value chain expert from South Korea.


A deal between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Korean Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) has allowed for the sourcing of a quality control value chain specialist Mr Kim Cheolok, from South Korea.


“Mr Kim is an expert Q-Grader who can perform tasks related to coffee quality control by evaluating the quality of green beans, roasted coffee beans, and powdered coffee in coffee importers, coffee roasters, coffee beverage manufacturers, coffee franchise companies, and coffee shops,” highlights the Korea International Agribusiness Development Institute (KADI).


This collaboration has the potential to improve the quality of coffee produced in the country, which could lead to increased earnings through direct exports to countries such as South Korea with a high demand for coffee.


Recently, excessive quantities of ochratoxin (infection beyond the standard limit) have been identified in coffee beans imported into Korea, leading to the withdrawal of the good.


The direct export of the nation's coffee to South Korea, whose per capita consumption of coffee as of 2020 stood at 353 cups per year - over three times more than the global average of 132 cups - would be among the benefits of this collaboration.


The knowledge of the Korean value chain expert, Mr. Cheol-ok Kim, is useful for ensuring effective quality controls in crucial components of the coffee value chain, according to the Ministry of Agriculture technocrats and sector experts our reporter spoke with.


Due to the cash crop's significance to economic growth and development, coffee has been designated as a priority commodity in the Agricultural Sector Strategy Plan (ASSP), the agricultural sector's flagship investment and development plan that is in line with the National Development Plan.


Coffee is grown by more than 1.8 million households and accounts for nearly one-third of export revenue, making it a significant source of foreign cash for the nation. Since then, the government has created an ambitious plan to boost coffee production from the present level of 402,000 tons per year to 1.2 million tons annually by 2025.


Hence, Mr. Kim must assure an improvement in the product's quality, processing, and export, which last fiscal year (2021/2022) brought in $862.28 million (or approximately Shs3.2 trillion), up from $559.16 million (or about Shs2.1 trillion) the year before.


being a private sector player engaged in coffee industry, Kim is confident about turning arounf the coffee industry of Uganda.


“My plan is to improve the quality of coffee in Uganda through technical guidance and to develop products such as instant coffee using Robusta coffee produced in Uganda"


He will also help a local company called Discovery Ltd to produce coffee mix which will be exported to the regional countries as well as the Middle East.