It’s official: the UK is now a nation of coffee drinkers, having shunned our traditional tea drinking habits of yesteryear.

With this shift, we are more educated about the coffee we drink and want that coffee to be of high quality. At the same time, we want to know where our coffee has come from and understand the environmental and social impact of how it’s been sourced.

So, how do the small-scale coffee farmers who produce much of the coffee we love ensure quality in an environmentally sustainable way?

Farm Africa, proud charity partner of the London Coffee Festival, is working with coffee farmers in Kanungu, western Uganda to increase their production of high-quality and in-demand Arabica coffee sustainably, alongside the Ugandan coffee processor and exporter, UGACOF.

Farm Africa provides training and support to help farmers access quality tree seedlings and adopt simple techniques such as applying climate smart farming practices and improving harvest and post-harvest processes to preserve quality and reduce losses. The project also helps farmers access better facilities closer to their farms, such as washing and drying stations.

By helping small-scale farmers produce a more consistent supply of a better quality product, Farm Africa enables them to secure a fairer price for their coffee when it is sold, which in turn creates incentive to continue to produce high-quality coffee.

Every time you enjoy another cup of great ethically sourced, sustainably produced coffee, you help to complete this virtuous circle.

If you would like to help train more coffee farmers in high quality coffee production, you can donate to Farm Africa. It costs £11 to train one farmer in high-quality coffee production.

To donate and find out more about Farm Africa’s work with small-scale coffee farmers in Uganda, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo visit https://www.farmafrica.org/agriculture/our-work-with-coffee