Zukuka Bora
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Most of the world's coffee is grown by around 25 million smallholder farmers, and many are paid less than it costs to grow. Middlemen capture most of the value, prices swing with the commodity market, and farmers carry the risk.
On Mt Elgon in eastern Uganda, the gap goes beyond price. Farmers have often waited months to be paid for their cherry, had nowhere to process it properly, and lacked the equipment and training to lift quality. In recent years, landslides and flooding have added climate risk on top.
Zukuka Bora Coffee Company works alongside smallholder farmers across Mt Elgon, buying their coffee at better prices, processing it carefully and selling it to specialty buyers around the world. It now works with more than 1,200 farming families and has produced 60 tonnes of high-quality green coffee in each of the last two seasons.
The Cup That Counts has backed Zukuka Bora from the start. Our grants have funded processing infrastructure, equipment and training, and in 2025 alone $65,100 went into expanding Zukuka Bora's roastery, cafe and office, and improving storage and drying. That investment has helped build a business in Uganda, not just an export operation. Zukuka Bora now earns more selling roasted coffee locally than exporting green coffee.
Farmers need paying when they deliver their cherry, but international buyers often pay months later. Through our Origin Loans program, The Cup That Counts and partners including VivCourt and Church by the Bay provide impact loans that pre-finance the harvest, so Zukuka Bora can pay farmers on the spot and buy more coffee. In 2024, a $229,000 loan pre-paid Zukuka Bora's entire harvest.
The results show up in farmers' pockets. When our partnership began, farmers on Mt Elgon were paid around 1,200 shillings per kilo of cherry. At the most recent harvest, the average was over 3,000. The benefits spread further, too. The carpenter who built Zukuka Bora's drying beds used his earnings to open a cafe in Muyanda, and local transport businesses have grown on the back of moving the coffee.
We're also funding Zukuka Bora's tree nurseries, which give around 65,000 indigenous trees a year to farmers to protect their land and their coffee. Read more about the Kua Tree Nursery.
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