Ten Coffee Trees per Household: Padhola’s Push for Farm Income

Ten coffee trees per household is the starting point Kwar Adhola Moses Stephen Owori wants for Padhola. The head of the Tieng Adhola Cultural Institution is encouraging families to build a lasting source of income from the crop, according to Nile Post Uganda (direct). But his own demonstration garden also shows the challenge: some coffee plants were lost to harsh weather and now need replacing.

Owori made his appeal at Padhola Palace in Amagoro 'A' North Village, Tororo Municipality, while accepting a donation of more than 500 coffee seedlings. The family of Julian and Felix Omalla supplied the plants through their company, Delight Uganda Limited. The donation supports a wider effort to bring coffee growing to more households in Padhola and the surrounding Bukedi sub-region, where communities are seeking dependable earnings from agriculture.

Owori urged every household in Padhola to begin with at least 10 coffee trees as a step towards a sustainable income.

From a palace garden to household farms

Owori described coffee as one of the cash crops—crops grown for sale—that could improve livelihoods in Tororo and the wider Bukedi area. He said the cultural institution had gathered resources to encourage planting, including community outreach and help with seedlings. The household target gives that campaign a concrete starting point, while his demonstration farm offers residents a place to learn coffee-growing practices.

Dr Julian Adyeri Omalla, executive director of Delight Uganda Limited, said the family’s donation was intended to support Owori’s campaign. Some of the seedlings will replace the weather-damaged plants in his garden, she said. That puts the donated plants to two related uses: supporting the local promotion of coffee and restoring part of a demonstration site that farmers have been invited to visit.

Omalla is also growing coffee beyond Padhola. She said she had planted more than 50 acres on part of a 2,000-acre property in Nwoya District, in the Acholi sub-region. Her account places the seedling donation alongside her own investment in the crop, rather than as a stand-alone contribution to the cultural institution’s activities.

Planting quality is the next test

Delight Uganda has also set up a nursery in Kidera-Panyagasi, where more than one million coffee seedlings are being raised for farmers in Tororo and nearby areas, Omalla said. The plants include varieties labelled KR1 and KR3 through KR10. The company describes them as fast-maturing and says farmers can buy them directly from the nursery.

Thomas Okoth Nyalulu of the Bukedi Development Consortium welcomed the initiative but stressed the importance of reliable planting material. He urged farmers to use certified suppliers to avoid losses from counterfeit or poor-quality seedlings. His warning highlights a practical issue for households responding to the call: obtaining suitable plants, not simply deciding to grow coffee.

The effort is part of Bukedi communities’ search for a broader mix of crops and higher household earnings. The next stage to watch is the move from promotion to planting: the nursery is raising seedlings for local farmers, while Owori has invited growers to his home to learn from his demonstration farm.