In June thisyear, the 4th African Tea Convention & Exhibition was held in Kampala,Uganda. Included in the line-up was a session on climate change. A globalconcern, it is of particular significance in Uganda where cash crops contributesignificantly to the economy. Tea follows coffee and fish as leading exportsfrom Uganda, employing more than 68,000 people directly and supporting thelivelihood of at least one million.
In 2011, areport by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), based inColumbia stated that if average temperatures rose by 2.3 degrees Celsius, aswas expected, Uganda’s tea producing areas would see declines in production by2020. And now, as 2020 approaches, the decline has begun. Temperatures aresteadily increasing and rainfall is erratic. The latter is of particularinterest to agriculturists, and the tea industry in a country that depends onagriculture and cash crops for its economy. With warmer climate comes increased precipitation duringthe dry season of December, January, and February. Projected precipitation isbetween -2% and +22%, with an increase in rainfall in the north and a decreasein the southeast. But an increase in rain during dry season affects perennialcrops directly but all crops in post-harvest activities.
Of course,Uganda’s tea farmers have been well aware of the situation and have been tryingto take steps to mitigate it. The Producers’ Foundation is educating growersabout more resilient tea varieties, improving on-farm practices and encouragingits members to introduce appropriate practices as well, such as reforestinghillsides and protecting water sources.
The Kayonza Growers Tea Factory is a forprofit community initiative in southwestern Uganda. In 2015, the group won theUNDP’s Equator Prize for Community-Based Adaptation to ClimateChange and Sustainable Livelihoods. Followingthe award, Gregory Mugabe, chairman of Kayonza’s board of directors said, “Westarted the climate change adaptation and mitigation among farmers in 2010after our area experienced prolonged drought and destructive rainfall, whichaffected both food crops and tea farms. What made us win the award is how weintegrated climate strategies in our tea farming systems.” In January thisyear, the Kayonza Growers Tea Factory earned the Rainforest Alliancecertification, the first indigenous Ugandan institution to get thiscertificate, opening its access to international markets.
Much of the tea growing areas have traditionally been concentrated in the west and the southern regions, in the sub-regions of Buganda, Ankole, Kigezi, Toro, Bugisu and Busoga. In the recent past, Uganda’s resident tea expert Edwin Atukunda advocates the development of the northern parts of the country as tea growing areas. He introduced tea farming in Acholi in 2018, and has been working towards aggressively propagating tea growing in the north. The Edwin Foundation Tea Initiative offers tea seedlings for farmers and their website states that thousands of seedlings will be ready for transplanting with the first rains in April 2020. These northern areas, which are more used to growing food crops, struggle to take to cash crops like tea and coffee. But that is only part of the problem.
Concernsremain on whether the land, no doubt fertile and suited for growing tea issustaining the changes that are afoot. Beatrice Lajara Kumago, the Coordinatorfor the Gulu and Omoro Districts Farmer Associations had expressed concernsthat tea farming in northern Uganda comes with big challenges as the regiononce enjoyed heavy rains but now sees only intermittent rainfall because offorest degradation in the past decade. Southern Uganda enjoys two monsoons, thelong rains between March-May and the short rains over November and earlyDecember. But northern Uganda receives a single monsoon between April andOctober. This year has brought average to above-average rainfall which hassupported agriculture but already food crops are in shortfall as planting wasdelayed in northeastern Uganda.
Similarproblems are being faced in the Indian tea regions as well. In the Assamvalley, which produces 17% of the world’s tea, the annual monsoon is nowcompeting with heavy wet spells, causing waterlogging and root rot.
Uganda’s unique location on the equatorial belt, is known to have afavorable climate for tea growing, with two rainy seasons per year. The teaplant, which was introduced in the country by 1900, had by the mid-1950s becomeUganda’s main estate crop. It is believed Uganda has only exploited about 10%of its potential for cultivating tea with about 44,000 hectares of land undertea. A further 200,000 hectares is both available and suitable for tea. Theindustry is about 100 years old and Uganda ranks 12th among tea producersglobally, and follows Kenya in second place among East and Central African teaproducers. In 2018, Uganda produced 71,500 metric tons with this estimated togrow to 110,000 metric tons by 2021. Uganda primarily relies on tea exports,with only 5% of production consumed domestically.
But how will tea growers expand against the very real and tangibleimpact of climate change, even as exports struggle with low global prices?