Website: www.mashacoffee.com
Physical Business Address: Church Road, Kamowo Village, Kono
Parish, Binyiny TC, Kween District
Telephoned No: +256702568286/+256772568286
Email: mashaqualityholdings@gmail.com
Product/ Service: Specialty Arabica coffee (Naturals, Honey processed, washed)
Production Capacity: 80 metric tonnes (4 containers of specialty arabica coffee beans)
International Certification: In the process
Contact Person: Sylvia Achebet
Title: Executive Director
Brief about the Company
Masha Quality Holdings U Ltd (MQH), a six-year-old company that is involved in the production and processing of specialty Arabica coffee under the brand name of Masha Coffee. The company, that operates in the Mt. Elgon region of Eastern Uganda, has formed a partnership with more than 1,000
smallholder coffee farmers who provide high quality coffee cherries for central processing in addition to the coffee from the Company’s own farms. Through the deliberate involvement of women and youth at all stages of the coffee value chain, Masha Coffee promotes sustainable and profitable coffee farming for livelihood enhancement impacting more than 5,000 household members largely women & youth.
The Masha Coffee Story
The Masha coffee story explores the exciting experiences in the growing, harvesting, processing, preserving, and trading in coffee. Masha Coffee is a local partnership of about one thousand coffee farmers located in Sebei region on the slopes of Mt. Elgon, Uganda. Founded in 2016, Masha Coffee aims at improving coffee farmers’ sustainable household income through improved and sustainable farming practices, bulking, value addition and marketing.
Masha Coffee farmer members are organized in production groups in the three districts of Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo. The directors of Masha Coffee, together with the majority of cooperating farmers, are following a long tradition of coffee growing. Introduced into the region during the colonial period, coffee growing has been part of the local economy for a long time, sustaining livelihoods and fostering improved standards of living in the region. Masha Coffee is promoting this tradition by advocating for sustainable production of specialty coffee through incorporation of sound environmental practices, soil conservation and women & youth empowerment.
The Masha coffee-growing area is about 280km east of Kampala City, a 5-hour’s journey. The traditional Elgon Arabica coffee flourishes in the conducive conditions of dark fertile volcanic soils with rich mineral content, high altitude of 1,800m to 2,400m ASL and reliable rainfall in the region. The coffee is intercropped especially with bananas, other food crops and trees to provide shade as well as cross-pollination and enhance soil conservation
Masha Coffee Identity
The cool, misty weather conditions in the region are unfavorable for survival of irritating pests which reduces the need for the use of pesticides thus making our Arabica coffee highly organic. Soil fertility is regularly boosted with animal manure like cows’, goats’ and chicken droppings. From nursery bed to farm harvesting, Masha coffee growing is labour-intensive, done by its members chosen from within the community thus providing employment opportunities to the youth and women. The community team harvests only ripe red coffee cherries by hand, which are thereafter centrally processed after floating through either natural, honey or washed processes. The coffee is later stored in jute bags as parchment at a moisture of 11-13% and only hulled when market is available. The coffee beans undergo rigorous processes of sorting and grading for storage or roasting for further processing into the final ground coffee product.
