NUCAFE: The Answer to our Coffee Struggle

• In Event: Social enterprise and social innovation

Abstract

The phenomenon of control by intermediaries in the agriculture value chain is a common occurrence that perpetuates the poverty trap of the small-scale farmers. This has been the case for the small holder coffee farmers in Uganda. The objective of this case study is to present the innovation in the coffee value chain in Uganda, that helps farmers appropriate more value for the coffee. The case focuses on the social entrepreneur Joseph Nkandu, the son of a small holder coffee farmer and a coffee farmer himself. Drawing from his first-hand experience of the exploitation of the farmers, Joseph decided to tackle the problem and improve the lives of the coffee farmers. He established a social enterprise NUCAFE (National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses and Farm Enterprises) and a model dubbed the “Farmer Ownership Model”, to address this poverty trap that seeks to disrupt the existing practices on the coffee value chain. This was to enable farmers get greater value from coffee in terms of income, control, decision maker and wellbeing. This case study highlights how NUCAFE grew to influence practices and policies of coffee farming in Uganda. NUCAFE focuses on new social processes in the production of coffee, resulting in new social output and outcomes. The innovation shifts the position of the farmers from edge to the center. The farmer is no longer at the beginning of the value chain, growing the coffee beans only, but is now at the center of the entire value chain, becoming part of the processing of coffee. Through the Farmers’ Ownership Model, NUCAFE seeks to change the power imbalance that dominated the coffee value chain by bringing fairness and justice to the farmers. It also goes beyond the farmers earning more income, but extends to equipping them with the technical knowhow of the value chain as they make personalized contributions to it as key stakeholders. This case study was developed after interviewing Joseph Nkandu who is the social entrepreneur behind NUCAFE and the Farmer Ownership Model. This case study highlights the transformation of the lives of smallholder coffee farmers in Uganda showing how Joseph’s social innovation contributes to appropriation of value for coffee production.
Key Words: NUCAFE, Farmer Ownership Model, value appropriation

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Authors

• Jonas Yawovi Dzinekou, Tangaza University

• Grace Mureithi, University of Elderet