Uganda Coffee Development Authority in partnership with the African Fine Coffees Association will provide specialty coffee training in preparation for the annual Taste of Harvest competition and the country’s first-ever coffee auction. The three-day training, which begins August 22, targets coffee producers, exporters, processors and roasters and will be conducted by UCDA’s highly skilled quality and promotions staff in collaboration with AFCA. The training will provide participants with the skills to prepare and process high quality specialty coffee beans and enable them to prepare to participate in the Taste of Harvest (TOH) competition. The Taste of Harvest competition is a national annual competition held at the Uganda Coffee Development Quality Laboratory in Lugogo. This competition will be held from 22 to 26 January 2018. Interested farmers submit their best coffee samples for grading. The grading of coffee is determined by specialists known as Q and R graders. Coffee that scores above 80 is considered to be a specialty coffee and will automatically attract good market and even better prices. The competition therefore serves to show that good practices can benefit farmers. As part of its mandate, UCDA regularly trains farmers across the country to produce quality coffee through good handling practices. As a result there are areas which do produce high quality coffees such as in Kanungu, Sipi, Iganga and Luwero. Ugandan coffee in general has great taste. It is just a matter of handling it the right way. Farmers must work hard to get more and better quality coffee across the board. UCDA is excited about the opportunities that the auction and competition will bring to Uganda’s coffee industry. Through these two events, producers of high quality coffees, including smallholder coffee farmers, will access new markets and create an international brand for their coffees. UCDA is pleased to be working with AFCA to achieve this reality for Ugandan farmers. About UCDA Uganda Coffee Development Authority is mandated to promote and oversee the coffee industry through supporting research, promoting production, controlling coffee quality and improving the marketing of coffee in order to optimize foreign exchange earnings for the country and payments to the farmers. Source: comunicaffe.com/ugandas-first-ever-coffee-auction-to-take-place-in-january-2018/