In Summary: A 40-member delegation from Bukedi Kingdom has completed a two-day benchmarking visit to Gen. Salim Saleh’s Kirema Heritage Farm in Nakaseke, where farmers received training in modern coffee production, with plans to establish demonstration gardens and a cooperative to strengthen collective marketing and value addition.
Nakaseke, Uganda — Bukedi Kingdom has stepped up efforts to transform coffee farming into a commercial wealth-creation enterprise after a 40-member delegation of farmers and cultural leaders completed a two-day learning visit to Gen. Caleb Akandwanaho, popularly known as Salim Saleh’s, Kirema Heritage Farm in Nakaseke District.
The delegation, led by the Kingdom’s Prime Minister, brought together model coffee farmers from the seven districts of Bukedi, Kibuku, Budaka, Pallisa, Butebo, Butaleja, Tororo and Busia, alongside clan chiefs, women and youth leaders.
The visit was organised under the Kingdom’s “Coffee for Wealth” initiative, which seeks to expose farmers to modern agricultural practices and encourage a shift from subsistence production to commercially oriented farming.
At Kirema, participants received practical lessons in Robusta coffee management, covering nursery bed preparation, proper spacing, pruning, fertiliser application, irrigation and integrated farming. The training focused on improving productivity through better farm management, with farmers encouraged to treat coffee growing as a business rather than simply a traditional agricultural activity.
“We have been growing coffee for years, but we have been doing it as a tradition, not as a business,” said Ms. Namugosa Naume, a coffee farmer from Kibuku. “Here we have learned that one acre can produce 10 times more if you do proper spacing and value addition.”
Gen. Saleh, who also serves as Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), welcomed the delegation and challenged Bukedi leaders and farmers to embrace organised commercial agriculture as a pathway to improving household incomes.
“Bukedi has minerals and it’s densely populated with hardworking people. But why is it the second poorest sub region amidst multiple government interventions. You can be rich in Bukedi, if you organize yourselves, embrace coffee farming and add value to it,” Gen. Saleh told the delegation.
He pledged to link the Kingdom to Operation Wealth Creation to facilitate access to genuine coffee seedlings, agricultural extension services and coffee-processing equipment.
The Kingdom’s Acting Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Keddi Steven Eric Zuluba, described the visit as a turning point in efforts to improve agricultural productivity and household incomes across the sub-region.
“This tour was sanctioned by His Royal Highness Senkulu Patrick Ndobooli Lyada II. Our people in Bukedi must move from subsistence to commercial farming. What we have seen at Kirema is proof that farming can create wealth and jobs for the Bakedi,” he said.
Zuluba said the Kingdom would establish demonstration gardens across Bukedi, with each garden managed by farmers who participated in the Kirema visit. The gardens will serve as practical learning centres for other farmers and are also expected to support the distribution of coffee seedlings pledged by Gen. Saleh.
The delegation also committed to establishing the Bukedi Kingdom Coffee Farmers Cooperative Society to coordinate collective marketing and promote value addition.
The proposed cooperative is expected to help farmers organise production and marketing, potentially strengthening their bargaining position and addressing challenges associated with selling coffee individually.
According to figures cited by the Ministry of Agriculture, Bukedi produces more than 40,000 metric tonnes of coffee annually. However, post-harvest losses and low farm-gate prices remain significant challenges affecting farmers’ returns.
The Kingdom’s initiative is therefore seeking to complement coffee production with improved farming methods, organised marketing and processing, as leaders pursue better returns from the sub-region’s agricultural potential.
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