microstations meet Uganda
In 2018, when Andy, Aggrey, and Jason started Zombo Coffee Partners Ltd, they envisioned a future that offered a solution for the three main problems farmers face in the Zombo region: lack of infrastructure, poor quality, and no access to the market. Andy, the founder and designer of the micro-station model and of Zombo, thought a future in which farmers become independent is possible. He has been working to prove this since.
By offering an above-market cherry price to farmers and paying a bonus for quality, c-price freedom can be achieved; by providing technical and processing assistance, quality can get better and stabilize. Andy Carlton's strategic system has helped farmers over the past years to improve the quality and consistency of their coffee; together with his long-term business partner Aggrey, they've been supporting farmers to become economic actors in their own right by owning and running the micro stations. Livelihood in this neglected region of the world is beginning to improve, and farmers are now projecting a future for their children's education.
Zombo operates in one of the country's poorest regions in the West Nile, and farmers, mostly Alhur people, grow most of their own food and have a hundred coffee trees in their fields. Before Zombo, however, coffee was something like a cash machine for most farmers. They still needed to see what improving quality could offer them. Or, as Aggrey puts it: "Farmers used to look at coffee as something falling from their trees. They used to only look at coffee when the season came."
Over the past years, results have started to spread and manifest. Zombo has managed an exponential price increase and solid growth. But, sadly, large exporters are all too aware of this situation, and when they heard that Zombo was paying higher prices and making farmers co-owners of their company, they decided to outbid them. What will happen when they force Zombo to close down? They can return to their usual practice of squeezing farmers with shamefully low prices and no competition. Our job, and that of the partners we introduced to Zombo, is to not let that happen…
These are the microstations Zombo brought together for this year’s harvest.
We work with all but one microstation that Zombo works with, the missing one is Ayanyunga.
Also, we buy a lot called “Jukia Hill”, this is the coffee from farmers close to Zombo’s dry processing plant, Jukia Park.
Read the 2023 Sustainability report of Zombo here.
Ajere
farmers: 85
trees: 39,515
bought:
Gonyobendo
farmers: 154
trees: 46, 508
bags bought:
Ndhew
farmers: 116
trees: 53,739
bags bought:
pamitu
farmers: 85
trees: 24,940
ambe
farmers: 273
trees: 82,446
ayaka
farmers: 90
trees: 20,245
MITAPILA
farmers: 150 (50 are women)
trees: 39,000
LEDA
farmers: 109 (49 are woman)
trees: 43,884
Currently Zombo Coffee Partners do the dry milling and export. The dry mill is located on Jukia Hill. Since last year they have also been buying from the surrounding farmers - who live directly next to the mill - and are conducting experiments with fermentation in the building (large barn) of the mill itself.
Jukia hill
farmers: 47
trees: 18.808
THIS SIDE UP VALUE CHAIN:
Zombo operates unlike any other value chain we work in. Not only do the farmers own the microstations themselves (not indirectly through a cooperative) but Zombo as an exporting entity is 25% farmer-owned. They outsource dry milling capacity to a third party miller in Kampala.
THE PRICE YOU PAY:€9,08
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.
ALTITUDE:
1,445-1645 meters above sea level.
NOTABLE:
Zombo represents one of our biggest sustainability challenges yet: to implement a unique business model that offers a democratic solution for farmers in the Zombo district in the long term, whilst creating a C-Price bubble.
In 2020 and 2021, the women’s coffee attracted higher prices. Female producers earned a slightly better bonus. Considering the unpredictable nature of its drying process, it is quite remarkable to witness the benefits consistency is bringing to this outstanding group of coffee producers.
KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
2019: first import of coffees from micromills Ajere (then called “Atyenda”) and Culamuk.
2020: This Side Up worked with four microstations, being Culamuk, Ajere, Gonyobendo and Ndhew. Next to these “single microstation coffees”, the peaberry was a blend of six microstations, the other two being Ayaka and Ambe.
2021: thanks to the support from two donors, The Royal Dutch Embassy in Kampala and Irish Aid, channeled via Oxfam Uganda, two new farmer groups were created this year: Mitapila and Ayanyonga. Their coffees came with amazing results: Mitapila stood out with scores around 86 for both the fully-washed and the women’s natural coffees. Ayanyonga’s scores were only slightly below, around 85
PROCESSING:
Zombo processes its coffee in three different ways:
Fully Washed: the fruit from the coffee cherry is removed mechanically using a “pulper”. Beans are then fermented to improve the flavour. To create a clean cup, beans are further washed. They are then dried in the sun or under shade on raised tables or trays.
Natural: coffee is harvested, hand-sorted and floated. Instead of being pulped like a “washed” coffee, it is dried inside the cherry. It takes more time and more space than washed coffee to produce a good natural. That means considerably more investment by the microstation in drying space, and Zombo helps with this. Coffee then dries in full sun in the first few days. The women then deliver their cherry coffee to the microstation as individuals, and it is processed separately.
Yellow honey: instead of fermenting the beans after pulping, they are dried with the remaining mucilage. This produces “yellow honey” coffee. This is mid-way between washed and natural coffee.
**ZCP is experimenting with extended and anaerobic fermentation at Jukia microstation.
ajere farmers: €4,36
The price the farmers receive per kg of green coffee of Ajere Washed. These prices have a quality bonus included. This price has two segments and it includes the margin paid for the wet-milling and drying (€0,34 and €0,33 correspondingly) to each microstation. The prices paid for other coffees this year are:
Ambe Women's Natural: € 4,36
Ayaka Washed: € 4,42
Ayaka Women's Natural: € 4,35
Culamuk Women's Natural: € 4,31
Gonyobendo Washed: € 4,32
Leda Women's Natural: € 4,28
Mitapila Washed: € 4,43
Mitapila Women's Natural: € 4,38
Pamitu Washed: € 4,44
Pamitu Women's Natural: € 4,44
CPB Washed (Small Beans): € 4,31
CPB Women's Natural (Small Beans): € 4,40
ZOMBO: €2,68
The costs for milling the coffee, hand sorting the beans, taking out defects, preparing the lots in bags and making it ready for export. This figure also includes the cost of running Zombo Coffee Partners Ltd, sending samples to buyers, visiting trade fairs, investing in the microstations (equipment and building materials – USD 22,700 in 2019-20) and the company’s cost of finance. Zombo margins for other coffees are:
Ambe Women's Natural: € 2,68
Ayaka Washed: € 2,73
Ayaka Women's Natural: € 2,66
Culamuk Women's Natural: € 2,62
Gonyobendo Washed: € 2,64
Leda Women's Natural: € 2,60
Mitapila Washed: € 2,75
Mitapila Women's Natural: € 2,69
Pamitu Washed: € 2,76
Pamitu Women's Natural: € 2,76
CPB Washed (Small Beans): € 2,63
CPB Women's Natural (Small Beans): € 2,72
SHIPPING: €0,46
The logistical costs to get the coffee from Western Uganda to Rotterdam including insurance and customs clearance.
THIS SIDE UP: €1,40
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. € 1,55 is This Side Up’s Model 1 markup. For a full overview of our modular margin construction, see the Trade Models page.
CUSTOMS, INSURANCE, FINANCING: €0,36
Average financing cost owed to (mostly social) lenders. This ensures immediate payment to the farmers when the coffee leaves the farm or port.
REGENERATION:
€0,06
A standard TSU premium on all coffees designated exclusively to accelerate farmers’ own regenerative agriculture projects. Andy and Aggrey will use it to upgrade their regenerative demo plot next to the Zombo dry mill.
AVAILABLE FROM ZOMBO:
Ndhew fully washed
Ajere fully washed
Ambe fully washed
Ayaka fully washed
Culamuk Women's Natural
Gonyobendo Washed
PHOTO GALLERY:
You may use these pictures freely to promote Zombo among your customers.
Ovuru Village, Paidha, Zombo District, Uganda
Uganda, Zombo and coffee microstations
Uganda is already well-known for excellent robusta coffee. In recent years Uganda has begun to build a second reputation, as an origin of fine arabica coffees. Fertile land, volcanic soils, plentiful rainfall and sunshine, good varietals, diverse pockets of suitable micro-climates and altitudes, all combine with improved production practices to contribute to this emerging origin of really tasty specialty coffees.
The Zombo region, the Alur Highlands, is for most coffee people a blind spot on the map. It is located on the western banks of the Nile, the river that leaves Lake Albert and starts its long, meandering journey to the Mediterranean. On this hilly plateau, the Alur people speak a Nilotic language which is not related to the majority Bantu languages of sub-Saharan Africa. They have strong cross-border family relationships in DR Congo, next door.
Zombo Coffee Partners is pioneering an innovative business model, a unique African hybrid that combines a private shareholder company with a group of smallholder cooperatives by offering the coops shares in the company. Zombo works in close partnership with the coops, helping their members to add value by improving quality, and sharing profits with them when we sell their coffee, all with a mindset and focus of full price transparency and open book keeping. Next to all this, Zombo has a strong focus on helping the farmers to break free of the C-price trap for coffee as a commodity, a mission that lies very close to the heart of This Side Up.
This is the original document Andy wrote in 2016 about how the microstation concept developed.
Annual Reports
Every year, Andy makes a beautiful report stating their business’ impact and attained goals. We are proud to share it here with you.