Kaweri Coffee Plantation
is dedicated to coffee farming since 2001
About us
Who we are
Kaweri Coffee Plantation is the only large-scale coffee farm in Uganda, located about 200 km west of the capital, Kampala. The landscape consists of picturesque rolling hills, flanked by two large papyrus swamps, which are typical for this region. There are also several tributaries emerging on the farm that are surrounded by a unique, untouched highland rainforest. The area is home to many genuine wild Robusta trees that are well over 100 years old. Kaweri is, thus, the home of Robusta coffee and today the plantation cultivates direct descendants of these wild trees. Cultivating Robusta as a native crop, in harmony with the highland rainforest, is a distinguishing feature and is one of the reasons for the exceptional quality of this coffee.
Mr. Henry Ngabirano is the Managing Director of the Ugandan Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).
“Kaweri is the first large-scale Robusta plantation in Uganda and is also the first farm that has introduced the Robusta washing process in big volumes, giving the coffee a particularly good quality. We are excited to learn that there are gourmet roast coffee products in Europe, which are purely made of Kaweri coffee, which is excellent news for Ugandan coffee all together. Kaweri is a model coffee farm with regards to the quality of coffee, the environmental achievements and the great support it is giving to the neighbor communities.”
Sustainable farming
In 2001, Neumann Kaffee Gruppe decided to invest in a coffee farm in Uganda, with the objective to produce a unique, washed specialty Robusta coffee. Pioneering sustainable coffee farm management, embedded in the local environment, is contributing not only to a positive economic impact in the entire region, but also leads to social and ecological advantages.
The Ugandan government at central and regional level, welcomed and supported the project from the beginning and after passing a range of formalities, including an environmental and social impact study, the first cultivation started by the end of 2001.
Kaweri is located on block 99, measuring 2,512 ha, which was privately owned and first time measured and established in 1915. The land’s border was measured by three independent fully licensed surveyors and all of them confirmed the correctness of today’s borders in line with the registered land deed. Since 2001 the land is owned by the Ugandan Government and leased to Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd.
People who occupied part of the land prior to the start of the lease, obtained compensation from the previous owners, in line with the land act of Uganda. Written proof of each compensation was given and Kaweri received the land free of encumbrances.
Through an extensive development process, Kaweri developed modern cultivation and processing systems – thereby, establishing a complex agronomic concept as well as an efficient management and working structure, consisting of 99% of Ugandan citizens. Other management members originate from Zimbabwe and Kenya.
Hans Faessler is an agronomist with decades of experience in coffee cultivation in East Africa, Asia, Central and South America.
“From day 1 we made sure that each step was done with due respect to people and their culture as well as utmost care taken of the environment. We are proud to demonstrate that commercial coffee cultivation and environmental preservation can work in total harmony and in addition contribute substantially to the sustainable development of local communities. As such Kaweri is a seminal model farm.”
Today Kaweri cultivates 1,626 ha of selected Ugandan coffee clones under mainly indigenous mixed shade plus about 36 ha of woodlots, made of various tree species.
Certification is gaining more and more significance worldwide and is an important tool for national and international recognition of the special way our coffee is being produced. The farm is open for certifications according to customer demands.
The plantation maintains two beautifully located guest houses to accommodate buyers of Kaweri coffee or other visitors from the coffee industry. The two guesthouses contain each three self-contained double bedrooms and both are adjacent to coffee fields or rainforest. Colobus monkeys and rare birds are regularly seen nearby.
A typical visit to Kaweri offers a tour of coffee fields, with explanations of the cultivation methods, ecology, pruning methods etc. and during harvest, also picking and thereafter processing at the wet and dry mills can be witnessed.
A highlight for every guest is a walk through the rain forest, where huge trees, rare butterflies and especially genuine wild, 6 – 10 meters tall Robusta coffee trees can be seen.
Sustainable Development in Practice
Water – the element of life
While this is equally true worldwide, in the more remote areas of Africa the constant and unhindered access to this essential element is much less implicit. And while fortunately all people living and working on Kaweri have access to good, clean water, some still have to walk some distances to get it. No small wonder than, that inhabitants of the village of Kyota were absolutely thrilled, when Kaweri Coffee Plantation as their next door neighbour had announced some while ago to donate the drilling of a new borehole there.
So, in early October local residents, political leaders and Kaweri management jointly inaugurated the new water supply point. Until that date, Kyota residents – between six and eight hundred people all in all – had to take their water from a mostly polluted surface water-well. Many were suffering from water-borne diseases.
Now, with the drastically new and improved situation, various members of the local administration praised and thanked Kaweri for their effort and pledged continued cooperation. Especially Kaweri’s continued contribution towards the surrounding communities was mentioned and stressed by all speakers.
Natural bio-corridors
From the beginning, Kaweri implemented the project with a clear social and environmental sustainability agenda.
The social agenda implies full accordance with the Ugandan employment laws, transparent payment structures, workplace safety, health checks, gender equality, peace and respect among all employees. The farm fosters excellent relations with neighboring communities as well as the local and central government through constant dialogue and scheduled meetings.
The environmental agenda is built on a plan that was established before the start of the project. Thereby coffee cultivation was not replacing the existing ecosystem, but rather fields were integrated into nature by taking maximum care of biodiversity. Nearly 600 ha of forest remain untouched and coffee is grown under mixed shade. Due to the strict protection of forests and bio-corridors, the farm maintains the entire original biodiversity. Moreover a large immigration of partly endangered animals from surrounding, deforested areas is observed, making Kaweri an enormously valuable sanctuary for plants, rare birds, butterflies, reptiles and mammals.
The farm employs a fully qualified sustainability officer, who is responsible for maintenance and record keeping of the sustainability activities.
Our People
The farm has created nearly 200 permanent jobs, including farm-, section- and divisional managers, accountants, group leaders, clerks, drivers and cooks among other. Most of the permanent employees have started with basic knowledge, but through constant training they have developed into skilled professionals in their field of work. The majority of the permanent employees have been with the company for many years, which expresses satisfaction with working and living conditions at Kaweri.
In addition to the permanent employees, the farm provides between 4 – 800 regular daily jobs, primarily in the form of piece or task work in the coffee fields, such as weeding, pruning etc. In this system, the employee is required to fulfill a certain amount of work and is free to work at his/her desired speed. Some employees manage to accomplish more than one or even several tasks per day.
During picking seasons, additional 500 – 3,500 pickers come to the farm, the numbers depend on the size of the crop. Picking is piece work and payment is based on picked kilos of cherry.
Our farm
The farm occupies a total area of 2,512 ha
Kaweri Coffee Plantation Ltd. occupies a total area of 2,512 ha, of which 1,626 ha are planted with Robusta coffee and 36 ha with woodlots. About 25% is comprised of natural, indigenous highland rainforest. The remaining area consists of roads, housing, processing equipment and natural papyrus swamps.
Kaweri is managed by a team of Ugandan, Zimbabwean and Kenyan professionals, all with a long track record in coffee farm operation.
The farm is divided into four main sections of roughly 400 ha each, called Nonve, Kyamutuma, Kitagweta and Luwunga. Each section is subdivided into divisions, each consisting of 80 – 100 ha coffee and managed by a divisional supervisor.
Each section or even the smaller divisions work with “own” groups of employees and the supervisors know them personally, by name. These employees either live in one of the section quarters or commute on a daily basis from their village to the farm and back after work. Some casual workers prefer staying in farm hostels, where they are provided with dry shelter as well as decent washroom facilities.
There are four section quarters for 200 permanent employees and four hostels for max. 230 casual workers each.
Nursery
The farm runs a nursery which produces 300,000 cuttings and 40,000 coffee seedlings p.a., for internal use and distribution to smallholders in collaboration with the foundation Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung. In addition, the farm produces about 20,000 shade tree seedlings of different types p.a.
The process of producing a ready-to-plant plantlet takes about 18 months. At first cuttings are produced from the own mother garden and placed into incubators where roots and first leafs develop. Thereafter the rooted cuttings are transferred into large seedling bags, where they continue to grow for about 12 months. The best 90% of seedlings are then planted into the open field at the beginning of a rainy season.
Production
The Ugandan Robusta clones have a high inherent coffee quality potential, which is one of the reasons for the extraordinary good cup profile. Altitude, climate, shading, nutrition programs as well as good control of pests and diseases are other elements contribute to the exceptional quality of Kaweri coffee.
Due to the location at the equator, Kaweri experiences two rainy- and two dry seasons and the farm does not apply irrigation. Blooming usually takes place in February and July and coffee thereof is harvested 9 – 12 months later. The farm harvests coffee almost throughout the year but, with peaks in December/January and May/June.
Annual production ranges between 1600 – 3000 tons of green coffee p.a., split into different qualities and screen sizes.
Kaweri runs its own experimental department, which serves to search for even better cultivation solutions under the given pre-conditions. This includes trials with different clones and shade trees, searching for effective pest and disease control methods, nutrition trials etc.
Producing Uganda washed coffee
Our Products
A one-of-a-kind gourmet coffee
Kaweri lies at an altitude of 1300 meters above sea level, similar to high-grown Arabica, resulting in a dense, hard bean with a superior coffee flavor. The mild, cloudy weather at the equator suits Robusta and allows the development of healthy plants. The average temperature is 25°C and with regular rainfall near 1250 mm p.a. over two rainy seasons.
The management takes care of balanced nutrition and over the years has planted tens of thousands of additional shade trees to further improve plant development and mitigate changing climatic patterns, especially unusual droughts.
Cherries are picked selectively and are not stripped, as is common in Robusta cultivation. After the harvest, the cherries are pulped, soaked and sun pre-dried before final drying in drum driers.
This results in a remarkable and unique mild cup, yet full-bodied and with slight acidity. The aromatic bouquet has hints of spicy cinnamon and dark chocolate, ending with a clean finish. The beans bear further testimony to the high altitude of the farm by displaying an appealing deep gray-green color.
In the heart of Africa – the Road to Kaweri
How to find us
Get in touch with Kaweri
Kaweri lies at the equator about 200 km west of Kampala, Uganda’s capital. The farm can be reached by car within three hours from the airport of Entebbe. The road from Kampala/Entebbe to Mubende is excellent and passes through typical Ugandan countryside. Roughly 12 km before reaching Mubende town, a white signboard indicates the turnoff to the southern entrance of the farm, which is another 8 km over natural road. Alternatively, one can pass through Mubende town and from there to the northern entrance of Kaweri. This drive takes roughly 45 minutes more time.
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