Outgrower sessions in South Sudan

Equatoria Coffee in South Sudan has been running training sessions with the farmers that are taking part in Equatoria’s ‘Excelling in Excelsa’ scheme, which is gaining momentum as farmers start to see coffee growing on their trees.

Coffee Consultant Jackson Mateng`e and his team of extension officers have run sessions on good agricultural practices such as:

• Capping Excelsa trees so that they remain an efficient height for harvesting.
• Pruning the trees as they grow - removing branches and sucker growths to improve nutrient distribution and overall plant health.
• Creating good quality compost for coffee trees.
• Adhering to EUDR regulations.
• The importance of shade trees as the coffee tree grows and begins to produce crop.

Also covered in these sessions is Equatoria’s revenue sharing policy, which specifies that money earned from coffee production must be distributed to everyone that contributed to the growth and harvest of cherries. Equatoria established a base price for coffee cherries based on the selling price of green coffee beans the previous year. Later, when those cherries have been processed and sold, they assess the final profit and, if the business has made a profit, an additional bonus is given out to the farmers.