Coffee research at Kituza in Mukono District has a fascinating history. Starting as a small garden within the forest of Kituza around 1917 to a national coffee and cocoa research institute, has been a journey of many twists and turns.
Most local residents in the area recall that there was a coffee garden that was privately-owned by an Indian man, and later managed by a European only identified as Craig. The garden was later expanded by introducing several coffee clones with unique traits. These clones were being evaluated to get those that were suitable for growing in the Buganda Region. By 1923, it was a sizeable coffee farm that subsequently became a research unit by 1935 administratively hosted at Kawanda Research Station.
By 1996, it metamorphosed to an independent unit known as Coffee Research Centre (COREC), and later CORI (Coffee Research Institute), before becoming a Coffee Research Programme under the National Crop Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) in 2005. Following the policy recommendations of the National Coffee Policy of 2013, NaCORI was established as a semi-autonomous National Agricultural Research Institute under National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO). NaCORI is the seventh National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) of NARO and the 16th Public Agricultural Research Institute (PARI).
Since 2014, when the institute became a Public Agricultural Research Institute, NaCORI has generated diverse technologies and innovations that have helped to address several bottlenecks to increased productivity along the coffee and cocoa value-chains.
On August 8th 2024, NaCORI will celebrate 10 years of coffee research innovations under the theme:
Ten Years of Technologies and Innovations for Enhanced Coffee, Cocoa Export and Industry Development.
During this event, the institute will launch the revised National Coffee and cocoa Research and Development Agenda for the next 10 year and forge new partnerships for increased coffee and cocoa industrialization and export.
The event will be attended by various stakeholders and value-chain actors, including: farmers, processors, exporters, agricultural equipment suppliers, input suppliers, baristas, and dealers in complementary and supplementary coffee products. Others include: sports enthusiasts, the academia, other research institutions, traders, policy makers and local leaders.
On this momentous occasion of NaCORI@10, the Coffee Innovation Centre at Kituza will avail an array of engaging and memorable activities meticulously arranged as part of the Kituza Coffee Experience; an All Things Coffee Experience.
