Uganda is set to take a major step towards transforming its coffee industry with the development of the US$200 million Nonda Coffee Park in Nakaseke District, a project expected to become the largest single coffee processing facility in East and Central Africa.
The 100-acre agro-industrial complex, located in Butalangu Town Council, is being developed by Nonda Commodities Limited in partnership with international investors under the Great Uganda-Saudi Coffee Corridor.
The facility will process raw Ugandan coffee into branded, ready-to-consume products for export, helping the country capture greater value from its biggest export crop.
Groundbreaking is scheduled for October 2026, with construction expected to take about 24 months.
Once operational, the coffee park will have the capacity to process 42,000 metric tonnes of coffee annually, sourcing beans from Uganda’s central region and other major coffee-growing areas.
The project aims to reduce Uganda’s dependence on exporting raw coffee beans by expanding domestic processing and manufacturing.
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pledged government support for the project, describing it as a strategic investment that will strengthen value addition, create jobs and expand Uganda’s export earnings.
The commitment followed a meeting at State House, Entebbe, with a delegation led by Nonda Coffee Park Chief Executive Officer Tonny Miiro Kibuuka, who briefed the President on the project’s progress and requested government assistance ahead of construction.
According to Miiro, the coffee park forms part of the Value-at-Source Coffee Project, a private-sector-led industrialisation initiative designed to ensure that a larger share of the coffee value chain remains within Uganda before products are exported to international markets.
The project is also linked to Saudi Arabia’s Ingazi Group International and existing Ugandan-branded coffee outlets in the Middle East, creating a direct export channel for value-added coffee products.
The Ugandan government is expected to contribute US$44 million towards the development, while the remaining financing will be provided by private investors from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
If completed on schedule, the facility could significantly reshape Uganda’s coffee industry by increasing processing capacity, supporting thousands of coffee farmers, creating manufacturing jobs and boosting foreign exchange earnings through exports of finished coffee products rather than unprocessed beans.