Gomba Residents Hail Coffee as the ‘Money Tree’ Transforming Livelihoods

What the report says

Nile Post reports that coffee growing has become a major source of income in Gomba District, where residents describe the crop as central to recent improvements in household welfare. According to the report, many families that previously relied on cattle, goats and subsistence farming have shifted toward commercial coffee production, with residents linking the change to better homes, school fees, transport and broader household assets.

The article says residents trace much of the shift to campaigns encouraging coffee farming, including seedling distribution and promotion of commercial agriculture associated with President Yoweri Museveni. It reports that coffee plantations are now widespread across the district and that many households grow the crop. Farmer Moses Kazibwe is cited as saying coffee can produce stronger returns than livestock on a smaller piece of land, and that he later set up nursery beds and distributed seven million seedlings to farmers who could not afford them.

Residents quoted by Nile Post say Gomba could become one of Uganda’s leading coffee-producing areas in the next few years, but they want government help to move beyond selling raw beans. They are calling for a local processing facility that would allow farmers to roast, package and market coffee, with the expectation of higher earnings and more jobs.

The report frames Gomba’s experience within wider rural development concerns: farmers can increase incomes when they move into commercial crops, but the largest gains often depend on value addition, market access and quality handling. Nile Post says residents believe locally grown coffee, often fertilised with cattle manure, could command better returns if processing were done closer to producers.