Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
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7.2.4 UCDA MIS FOR COFFEE: NATIONAL GOVERNMENT PROVIDER The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) is a public regulatory and policy agency for
the coffee industry in the country. Prior to liberalisation, it had a monopoly over the coffee trade,
handling domestic procurement of the crop through cooperatives and being solely responsible
for exports. Among its current functions is provide players in the coffee value chain with regular
price information. These include daily price updates on terminal market prices and the export
parity equivalent. It also collects and disseminates coffee prices in the main domestic markets,
using its field officers as enumerators. Box 11 shows highlights of its monthly report. It includes
information on the volume of exports and foreign exchange earned. This is mainly for the
policymakers. For industry players, including buyers, it is the average domestic and
international prices which are important.
Box 11: Highlights of UCDA Monthly Report for August 2017
• The total volume of exports for August 2017: a total of 418,340-kilo bags of coffee valued at
US$ 47.06 million were exported in August 2017 at an average weighted price of US $ 1.87
US cents, 6 cents lower than the previous month.
• Coffee exports for 12 months (September 2016 to August 2017) totalled 4.47 million bags
worth $530 million comprising Robusta 3.48 million bags worth US$ 388.54 million and
Arabica 0.99 million bags worth US$ 141.2 million.
• Farmgate prices for Robusta Kiboko averaged Shs. 2,050/= per kilo; FAQ Shs. 5,150/= per
kilo, Arabica parchment Shs 6,250/= per kilo and Drugar Sh. 6,050/kilo.
• The ICO Composite Indicator price increased from US cents 127.26 per lb. in July 2017 to US
cents 128.24 per lb. in August 2017.
Source: UCDA websiteUCDA’s market information is disseminated through its website, emails and weekly bulletins by
local or community radio stations. The radio broadcasts also include reports on relevant
weather reports and forecasts as well as information on plant disease and pest outbreaks. In
addition, UCDA provides extension advice to farmers through the broadcasts. In 2005 the UCDA
launched mobile phone dissemination of price information under a project funded by the
Common Fund for Commodities (CFC). To assure sustainability beyond the CFC project, UCDA
entered into an agreement with a mobile service provider under which it provided price
information on a very regular basis and shared in revenues generated through users accessing
the information via an SMS text message. That programme has been maintained but at the time
of this study, UCDA reported that uptake of the phone services.
7.3 MAPPING EXISTING MIS IN UGANDA: REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
SYSTEMS
7.3.1 RATIN: A REGIONAL MIS ACCESSIBLE IN UGANDA
The Regional Agricultural Trade Intelligence Network (RATIN) is regional MIS run by the
Eastern Africa Grain Council (EAGC), which has its head office in Nairobi, Kenya. It provides
information on prices of grains (mainly maize, rice and wheat as well as pulses and beans) in the
mainmarkets in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. This information is mainly sourced from
the Country Representatives of the EAGC. RATIN also captures information on flows of