Up to around the late 1980s in greater Masaka area, most households that farmed hard had a precious possession. It was called Mwanyi Zaabala.

It was a powerful English motorcycle called SBA Bantam that every man worth his salt had. Even those who had cars, they kept a Mwanyi Zaabala on the side. It was a status symbol.

People in their 40s and above may recall with nostalgia their parents or grandparents’ Mwanyi Zaabala as one with an unmistaken sound, which they loved so much that if you touched it without their permission, the punishment you would receive would be severe. This didn’t seem to be the case with the cars. Mwanyi Zaabala is Luganda word for coffee is profitable.

Most people bought Mwanyi Zaabala after selling their coffee. Greater Masaka was known for coffee. Thousands of trucks left Masaka every day transporting coffee to Kampala and beyond. It made Masaka wealthy to the extent that there were several people known as Mapapula, which means loaded person. However, something happened.

The cooperatives collapsed. Several coffee milling factories closed. Some of these factories which haven’t been converted into soft drink depots are basically providing shelter to rodents.

Although Mwanyi Zaabala was synonymous with Masaka, many parts of the country grew coffee. With the collapse of cooperatives, people sold land and became boda boda riders.

In 2013, newly-appointed Buganda katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga started touring the vast kingdom as part of his popular Ettoffaali fundraising drive to restore the Kasubi royal tombs, among other key installations.

He saw poverty first-hand in a lot of places. But he also saw those who had been resilient and remained coffee growers and how they lived a different life. Their children went to good schools, had solar power, and iron-roofed houses.

Three years later, Mayiga started a campaign codenamed Emwanyi Terimba. Luganda being a rich reliable, that, too, means coffee is profitable. He called the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and formed a partnership.

The UCDA was to provide seedlings and partner the kingdom’s Buganda Cultural and Development Foundation (Bucadef) to provide technical knowledge. Mayiga was to use his exceptional mobilization skills to ensure people embrace growing coffee again.

A year into this campaign, there is more belief in coffee and some young people have started embracing it. Josephat Kato is a 22-year-old who owns two acres of coffee. Mayiga visited his farm in Bigasa sub-county in Bukomansimbi at the beginning of March this year.

For full disclosure, I requested to join him on the campaign and he accepted.

“I have been inspired to grow coffee because I have seen what it can do to get people out of poverty. Some people in this county have become wealthy by just growing coffee,” he said before embracing Mayiga as tears rolled down his face. “I have always listened to your advice. I am happy you have come here today.”

Depending on the variety of coffee one grows, it is estimated that one single coffee tree, if looked after well, can give as much as 25kg. In the fly crop season, the same tree gives on average 30 per cent, which comes to 7.5kg.

On an acre of land, one can plant as much as 450 trees. If we take an average of 25kg per a tree per season, one can say that a farmer can get as much as 11,250kg from an acre a season.

Without any processing, a kilogramme of coffee (Kibooko) goes on average at Shs 2, 500, which translates to Shs 28.1m per acre per season. And the money doubles if you process it to what is commonly known as Kase (fair average quality). That explains why Mayiga called his campaign Emwanyi Terimba.

“There are three major problems in Buganda and, generally, the entire world today. These are ignorance, poverty, and disease. Ignorance is the major one because it leads to poverty and then disease. By giving people the information they need to grow coffee, all those problems can be fought because most diseases that afflict our people are a result of ignorance and poverty,” Mayiga says.

Uganda now exports 4.6 million coffee bags of 60 kilograms each year, earning the country more than half a billion dollars a year. With more people growing coffee, Uganda can export 25 million bags in a short period of time. This would enable the growers live the lives Mwanyi Zaabala millionaires enjoyed back in the day