In Uganda, more than 2.5 million people depend on growing coffee for their livelihood. Average incomes are low and basic social infrastructure is lacking: communities are hardly connected to electricity and the rural medical care is very basic. In addition, disease and malnutrition are common and inhabitants do not have access to fresh drinking water. When the Farmer Field School trainer first told 68 year old Lubega Sulaiman he was going to be a successful coffee farmer, Lubega laughed at him. Four years after first attending the training, his farm is one of the largest and most productive coffee plots in the region.

In 2003, Lubega had very little income to provide for his family. He was one of 2950 farmers to join the first Farmer Field School established that same year. But how could he become a successful coffee farmer at his age, when he hadn’t managed to do so when he was young? “The agronomist was very ambitious and inspiring, I felt a strong drive to implement his advice”, Lubega comments when he is asked about the years of intensive training. Yet, doing his best payed off: there has been a significant improvement in coffee quality in the whole project, and farmers have doubled their yields.

Lubega invested his increased income in a goat and several ducks, enabling a higher quality of life for his family. He was recently able to build a new house, helped his daughter start her own business and sent his grandchildren back to school.