![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Cover-cropping-between-the-coffee-plants-credit-KCL-officer-Aventino-Ssentume-1024x461.jpg\")
Cover cropping between the coffee plants \u2013 credit, KCL officer Aventino Ssentume, provided to the IUCN<\/p>\n Cover cropping between the coffee plants \u2013 credit, KCL officer Aventino Ssentume, provided to the IUCN<\/p>\n
Among the rolling hills of Uganda\u2019s Masaka region, robusta coffee plants are producing larger, tastier yields thanks to a pilot program utilizing regenerative agriculture to battle droughts or erratic rainfall.<\/p>\n
A catch-all term for a variety of growing techniques as simple as mulching to as complex as cover cropping, regenerative agriculture is especially useful in the coffee belts where nutrient-poor tropical soils and heavy rainfall make erosion a real threat to productive crops.<\/p>\n
Coffee is central to Uganda\u2019s economy and the social fabric of life in many growing regions like Masaka. Global Environment Facility, (GEF) an international partnership focused on providing financial resources to help countries address global environmental issues, brought together a coalition of groups with the idea of setting up demonstration farms to teach the Ugandan growers in Masaka how to utilize regenerative farming.<\/p>\n
Uganda\u2019s oldest and largest licensed coffee exporter contributed their in-country expertise to the coalition, which included Nespresso and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and together they established 30 \u201cmodel farms\u201d where local growers could come and gain hands-on experience in these growing methods.<\/p>\n
Cultivation of known varieties proven to be more resilient were done on the farms which could then be transplanted into plantations around the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo little or untimely rains have become serious threats to coffee production,\u201d Nakalisa Mary Fatuma, a smallholder robusta coffee farmer in Masaka, told the IUCN.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cBut since we applied mulches and planted drought resistant seedlings, the coffee farms are reliably resilient. My coffee is stronger and more promising, and so is my family.\u201d<\/p>\n IUCN wrote that the benefits are already visible, beyond those observed merely by Fatuma. \u201cFarmers are reporting adaptation of regenerative practices, improved yields and quality, healthier trees, and better income stability.\u201d<\/p>\n While it may sound interchangeable with organic farming, and while organic farmers may utilize regenerative practices, there are differences. Practitioners of regenerative ag not only grow crops, but grow the topsoil through a mixture of mulching and cover cropping, or growing complimentary, non-food plants throughout the field.<\/p>\n This has the effects of helping retain soil from erosion, replacing nitrogen in the soil, and shielding microbes from the heat of the Sun. Shade trees grown throughout the acreage further protect the soil, which is never tilled, while adding more organic material through leaf loss.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Growing-school-credit-Aventino-Ssentume-1024x612.jpg\")
Growing school \u2013 credit, KCL officer Aventino Ssentume, provided to the IUCN<\/p>\n