In the pantheon of Uganda’s export commodities, coffee remains an indomitable force—both as a historical economic mainstay and a potent lever for future transformation. Yet, for decades, Uganda’s position in the global coffee value chain has been marked by its relegation to the lower echelons of raw material supply, with value accruing disproportionately to foreign roasters, packagers, and retailers. The persistent export of unprocessed green beans has limited the country’s ability to capture higher margins, stifle domestic industrialization, and deepen dependency on volatile commodity prices.
Amidst this backdrop, a paradigm shift is being advocated by Odrek Rwabwogo, through the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACIED). This movement is not simply about increasing the volume of exports, but about structurally repositioning Uganda in the international marketplace through value addition, a strategy that ensures coffee is processed, branded, and certified within Uganda before reaching global consumers.
The Problem with the Status Quo
Uganda is the second-largest coffee producer in Africa and among the top ten globally, yet it remains a price taker in global markets. This is largely because over 90% of its coffee is exported in raw, unprocessed form. The consequences are multidimensional: loss of revenue, negligible brand visibility, and minimal employment generation along the higher segments of the value chain. More crucially, this inhibits the development of ancillary industries such as packaging, logistics, and marketing, which are essential for building a resilient industrial ecosystem.
The imposition of a 10% tariff on Ugandan roasted coffee entering the U.S. market is a recent affront that underscores the fragility of relying on external trade terms without internal robustness. It is a stark reminder of the geopolitical and economic levers that influence market access. However, rather than retreating, this development has catalyzed a more urgent national discourse on trade defensiveness, industrial readiness, and the imperative of product upgrading.
Value Addition: An Economic and Strategic Imperative
Value addition in coffee encompasses a series of sophisticated processes including roasting, grinding, packaging, branding, and certification. These processes elevate Uganda’s comparative advantage to a competitive one, enabling the country to reap substantially higher export earnings while building industrial and technological capabilities.
Beyond economics, the drive for value addition is a strategic assertion of Uganda’s sovereignty and vision. It transforms Uganda from a supplier of commodities into a purveyor of finished goods. This repositioning is fundamental to the aspirations enshrined in Uganda’s Vision 2040, which envisages a modern, diversified, and prosperous economy.
Odrek Rwabwogo and PACIED: Engineering the Turnaround
At the helm of this transformation is Odrek Rwabwogo, whose stewardship of PACIED has introduced a pragmatic and deeply intentional blueprint for repositioning Uganda’s exports. PACIED is not merely a committee of technocrats—it is a think tank and an action-oriented body that bridges the gulf between policy pronouncements and market reality.
Rwabwogo’s approach is rooted in realism. He has consistently underscored that the U.S. market—though imposing and protectionist—is a necessary crucible for any country aspiring toward industrial maturity. “No newly industrialising nation has grown without penetrating the U.S. market,” he asserts, citing precedents from Malaysia to Turkey and China. The logic is irrefutable: global competitiveness is forged through engagement, not isolation.
Under his guidance, Uganda has begun exporting roasted and branded coffee to high-value markets including the United Kingdom and Serbia, with the first 20-foot container of 200g roasted coffee packs poised for shipment. These are not anecdotal victories; they are harbingers of an impending shift in the structure of Uganda’s export economy.
Infrastructure, Aggregation, and Domestic Readiness
Despite the momentum, challenges persist. The domestic ecosystem remains hamstrung by infrastructural deficits, poor aggregation mechanisms, bureaucratic delays, and prohibitively high logistics costs. It is not uncommon for a coffee exporter to wait an entire week to secure a certificate of origin, or to incur exorbitant transportation charges—up to $350 per truck—that erode profit margins and price competitiveness.
Rwabwogo has been vocal about these impediments, calling for systemic reforms that transcend rhetorical commitments. He emphasises the need for integrated aggregation centres, digitised certification protocols, and investment in transport logistics to ensure timely and efficient market responsiveness.
Moreover, the campaign for value addition is not merely technocratic—it is also cultural and psychological. It demands a reorientation of the national mindset: from exporting what we grow to selling what we brand and believe in. Ugandan coffee must cease to be an anonymous input in foreign supply chains; it must emerge as a distinct identity—a brand, a story, and an experience.
The Broader Implications: Job Creation and Industrial Deepening
Value addition in coffee is also a gateway to inclusive economic participation. It creates jobs not only in processing plants, but across design, quality control, marketing, export compliance, and logistics. This is critical in a nation with one of the youngest populations in the world. It is a tool for youth employment, skills development, and human capital formation.
Furthermore, value-added exports deepen the industrial base, stimulate technology transfer, and attract foreign direct investment into downstream sectors. It is a virtuous cycle that begins with a single coffee bean, roasted and packaged in Uganda, but whose impact reverberates across the economy.
Uganda stands at a pivotal juncture. The ambition to shift from a raw material economy to a value-added, industrialized state is no longer a luxury—it is an existential necessity. Through the deliberate efforts of PACIED and the unwavering commitment of leaders like Odrek Rwabwogo, value addition in coffee is transitioning from aspiration to implementation. This is not merely about coffee. It is about reclaiming agency in global trade, creating dignified employment, and projecting Uganda’s potential to the world. It is about transforming what has always been Uganda’s gift to the world into a symbol of her ascendancy—a rising nation, not just exporting beans, but exporting excellence
