MITANDI 2 COFEEE FARMERS

The small group of Adventists, led by their priest, Kighoma Herizone, is the oldest community connected with the project, with an average age of 56. At first, Eli had planned to build the washing station next to a primary school at the foot of the mountain towards Mitandi 1, close to his own plot. Accessibility and the lack of sufficient space to set up the entire infrastructure eventually led to a change of plans, with the washing station itself being moved closer to the city of Fort Portal.

Much like the farmers themselves, most of their coffee trees were planted over 30 years ago and have never been pruned or stumped. As a result, yields are very low, and support has historically been almost non-existent. Despite being a region with many coffee growers and considerable potential for high-quality coffee—as became clear after the first season—Mitandi, like many other villages, has traditionally only been visited by external buyers during harvest season. These buyers would rent a store or work with smaller local intermediaries, only to disappear again once the last picks had been collected.

One of the main goals of the project with the Mitandi farmers is now to establish proper agricultural practices that will help them renovate their gardens and increase production. Like the other founding communities of the Empaako Collective, Kighoma and his fellow farmers will receive new SL28 seedlings in August 2026, which are expected to see their first production two years later.