Uganda’s Museveni backs US$200M Nonda coffee park to boost coffee value addition

UGANDA – Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pledged government support for the establishment of the Nonda Coffee Park in Nakaseke District, a landmark agro-industrial project expected to transform Uganda’s coffee sector through large-scale value addition, job creation and expanded export markets. 

The commitment followed a meeting at State House, Entebbe, with a delegation from Nonda Coffee Park led by its Chief Executive Officer, Tonny Miiro Kibuuka, who briefed the President on the project’s progress and sought additional government support ahead of its groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for October this year. 

The proposed coffee park, situated on a 100-acre site in Butalangu Town Council, Nakaseke District, is projected to become the largest single coffee processing facility in East and Central Africa.  

Once completed, the plant will have the capacity to process 42,000 metric tons of coffee annually, drawing raw coffee from Uganda’s central region and other coffee-growing areas. 

According to Miiro, the project forms part of the Great Uganda-Saudi Coffee Corridor under the Value-at-Source Coffee Project, Uganda’s flagship private-sector-led industrialization initiative aimed at ensuring a greater share of the coffee value chain remains within the country before exports. 

He explained that unlike the traditional model in which Uganda exports largely unprocessed coffee beans, the Value-at-Source initiative seeks to process coffee domestically, enabling the country to earn significantly more from its leading export commodity. 

The coffee park represents an estimated investment of US$200 million, making it one of Uganda’s largest agro-processing projects. Miiro said approximately US$160 million will be invested directly in developing the coffee park and related infrastructure on the 100-acre site in Butalangu.  

The Government of Uganda is expected to contribute US$44 million, while the remaining financing will come from private investors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

One of the project’s biggest advantages, according to Miiro, is that it already has an established export market. He revealed that processed coffee from the facility is earmarked for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under an existing commercial arrangement. 

“This project is already mapped to the off-take market in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There is a ready market waiting for the coffee because we are the first Ugandan company to own coffee shops in the Middle East,” he said, adding that the company currently operates two Ugandan-branded coffee shops in Saudi Arabia. 

The facility is projected to generate annual revenues exceeding US$800 million, significantly increasing Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings from coffee exports. 

Construction has already commenced with preparatory works at the site, and the project is expected to be completed within the next 24 months. 

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