Business development for professionalization of the organisation Mount Rwenzori Coffee Farmers Association is an association which registered in June 2013 with 2.076 coffee farmers in Kasese region to take benefit of the potential for coffee on the one hand but also to cope with the challenges faced by the coffee producers in the Ruwenzori region. Currently the association has 15 member groups, of which 10 are registered primary cooperatives, totaling up to 2.400 members, all in Kasese district so far. A great strength is the commitment of the members, the Board, staff and management of the association. There was a 95% attendance rate at the latest AGM of February 2014. 

Staff works at a voluntary basis and are dedicated and motivated to work as they believe and are optimistic that the association will do better business in the future, which means fair remunerations at a later stage. The organization has a clear focus: the sales of their coffee and their main objective is to find better markets. One of the activities which they have taken up already is the process of certifying as Fair Trade. This will help them to find better markets. Secondly, Mnt Rwenzori Coffee Farmers Association has a second strength in the form of their coffee: they produce Arabica coffee, while the majority of Uganda’s coffee is Robusta. The main objective for the partnership between Agriterra and MRCFA is to scale up the sales volumes. This is to gain more sales experience, to build up some capital and to get a track record. Getting access to finance will be crucial. 
Secondly, as MRCFA is a start-up, there is a high risk, especially if you take a closer look to their financial management. This is still in poor condition. This will be the second main objective of collaboration. Agriterra will significantly improve the financial management and other key process for running a successful business.

The Rwenzori region in the west of Uganda is one of the major historical regions in the country that grow Arabica coffee. About 90% of the region’s population grow and derive their livelihood from Arabica coffee. However the coffee farmers have achieved far less than they should have got out of it due to lack of access to gainful markets coupled with poor farm and post-harvest management practices. There are visible constraints to production in form of diseases, over grown coffee trees, soil erosion and use of inferior coffee varieties. As a result, most farmers in the region get 0.2-0.4kgs per coffee tree compared to the expected 4-7kgs per coffee tree if the recommended good agronomic practices are adopted.
Mnt Rwenzori Coffee Farmers Association is aiming to intervene in the following issues: specialization in bulking and collective marketing of coffee, access to reliable and profitable markets, building and maintaining good and reliable network, cultural transformation of members to suit a dynamic business environment, internal arrangement in terms of procedures, policies and recruitment of competent and committed staff as well as skills development for staff and members. 

Mt. Rwenzori coffee farmers association will pursue the following objectives; i. At least 50% of the coffee farmers on Mt. Rwenzori become members of the association by the year 2017 ii. Mt. Rwenzori coffee farmers association to be among the best producers and exporters of high quality coffee by 2017. iii. Sell at least 50% of the coffee produced on Mt. Rwenzori to gainful markets through collective marketing by the year 2017 iv. Linking, soliciting and supporting coffee farmers to get affordable financial services to enable them carry out their production and marketing activities in a business manner. v. Create awareness among the farmers to enable them perceive farming as business.

Agriterra will assist MRCFA within this process by professionalizing their financial management, enhance coffee marketing skills, the development of a business plan and different trainings to enhance the knowledge of staff, board and members. The aim of the intervention is to build on the unique competitive advantage of this region, namely high quality Arabica in a mainly Robusta producing country.
More specifically, the targets of the action plan are as follows;• Further improve Financial ManagementTrain staff to use tally accounting system more effectively
• Capacity building to Farmers, Management and BoardTraining sub committeesCoaching/ training some board members/ management, tailor made
• CommunicationRoad show to non member groupsCommunication policies/ bylaws to the membersIncrease communication access to members
• Business management Fairtrade Certificate Develop a strategic planUpdate the business planFacilitating linkages to marketsSupport member primary societies to develop simple business plans

                   With support   from Agriterra for the last three years Mount Rwenzori coffee farmers  cooperative union is taking a gradual progress towards becoming bankable, having put in place the basic governance structures, policies and procedures   as well as equipping its store with the key material requirements. For the   year 2017 the project activities will focus on strengthening the capacity of   the union and member primary societies leaders to use these structures, policies   and facilities to carry out the cooperative operations and business in a   professional manner to make the union more stronger for the benefit of the   members, with particular interest in women and youth participation and involvement.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
          




 Project :Business development for professionalization of the organisation
Goals 2018 for action plan:- Establishment of a Youth council- Support youth livelihoods activity       - Review the strategic and business plan for the Union 

2016 goals
-develop strategic plan-update business plan-no more complete dependency on Great Lakes as a buyer-attract working capital

2017 goals
- focus on improving quality of the coffee instead of the quantity of the coffee, so the price and added value can be higher
- getting new Fair Trade buyers
- develop business plans with primary cooperatives
- improve internal capitalisation, 600 individual members pay 10 kgs of coffee for shares

. In the year 2018 the cooperative intends  to focus on three major goals Establishment of a Youth council; MRFCU will build a strong youth council from the grass-root primary societies and this will enable integeration of youth into leadership and also be able to include youth related activities into the mainstream cooperative activitiesSupport youth livelihoods activity; The youth will select activities that are suitable to them in order build on the coffee value chain within the cooperative. The cooperative intends to focus on specialty coffees with participation from the youth       Review the strategic and business plan for the Union ; MRFCU intends to review their strategic plan and business plan and grow the cooperative to another level.