Growing Together for Market Access

 

In 2021, farmers came together to set up Gonyobendo and work together as a group so they have better market access. Their yearning for collaboration in the value chain inspired them to found and operate Gonyobendo. They have been growing coffee as means of income as well as for their own consumption. Coffee is given the same importance as any other tree since it also gives them their oxygen. There are several challenges this microstation faces operationally. Primarily it is connected to inadequate finances available for maintenance of farms and the microstation during the off season. Their motivation to stay together as a group stems from their cooperation with Zombo coffee partners. Their ambitions for the coming years mainly include market expansion, finding more buyers for their coffees. Market access, bonus payments, training and capacity on good agricultural practices have been some of the initiatives by Zombo which serves as an anchor for them to stay afloat.

 

CULTIVARS

Most of the coffee grown in the Alur Highlands of north-west Uganda is SL14, a variety developed by Scott Laboratories in Kenya and promoted by the Uganda Coffee Development Authority.  There is also some Bourbon, which comes from nearby DR Congo, where it dominates. 


elevation

1495 meters


NOTABLE

It is the largest microstation with about 500 farmers.

 

PROCESSING

  • After harvesting, farmers take their coffee to the nearby microstation, which produces fully washed coffee. Hand sorting is done immediately to select the best quality cherries. Once the hand sorting of green, overripe, and diseased cherries is completed, the quality executives at each microstation are allowed to proceed with floating to ensure they obtain the best quality red ripe cherries.

    The red ripe cherries are then taken to the pulping machine to remove the red skin and transform them into parchment. The beans are carefully placed in fermenting containers or buckets filled with water, where they undergo a fermentation process for 24 to 36 hours to remove the sticky mucilage. After fermentation, the beans are washed thoroughly with more water.

    The executive team conducts a second round of hand sorting to remove beans damaged during the pulping process. The wet, high-quality beans are then transferred to a drying table, shade, or tarpaulin for proper drying until they reach the required moisture level of 12% to 13%, which qualifies them as good parchment. The hulling of parchment to obtain green beans is carried out at the ZCP factory.

 

TASTIFY™ CUPPING NOTES

Browse through our Tastify Archives on Google Drive.

 
  • The price you pay for Gonyebendo washed p/kg. We agreed on this price directly with the farmers, disregarding the volatile US Coffee C price.

  • The microstation buys red cherries from the farmers. They process it and then send the dry coffee (in parchment form) to Zombo for final milling, sorting for it to be made to export grade. Farm gate in this case includes price paid to the farmer and the primary processing done by the microstation.


  • Zombo mills the coffee at Jukia hill and then sorts it to export grade. Further, they are also responsible for all the processes involved in exporting the coffee from Uganda to the Netherlands.


  • International shipping from Nebbi (Port of loading - Mombasa, Kenya) to Rotterdam, Netherlands. It is inclusive of freight, customs, insurance and warehousing costs

  • Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.

  • A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture project.

  • This Side Up compensation for spending time and resources importing this coffee. Our work includes year-round contact with producers, managing export, shipping, import, warehousing, grading, sampling, finding and keeping roasting partners for Zombo. € 1,65 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page


Photo gallery

You may use these images freely to promote Gonyobendo’s coffee amongst your customers.