An urban workforce with a taste for coffee is growing in Africa, presenting an opportunity for the private sector to transform the coffee industry, WallStreetJournal reports.

In a continent where most countries are recording sustained average economic growth of more than 6 percent in the past decade, African countries in 2013 produced about 14.7 million 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags of coffee.

This was down from the 14.8 million bags produced in 2012, according to International Coffee Organization data.

Africa’s largest coffee producer, Ethiopia, consumed most of its coffee, exporting 2.8 million bags out of 6.6 million produced. Uganda exported 3.58 million of the 3.8 million bags it produced.

Traditionally a country of tea drinkers, Uganda has seen dozens of coffee shops and
restaurants popping up as locals acquire a taste for coffee. Increased consumption is adding
pressure on a region already is struggling to produce.

Tastes are changing, and an increasing population of Africans who drink coffee rather than grow it, is changing the global market.

The export proportion is likely to shrink, according to WallStreetJournal.

“It’s an opportunity the private sector can harness to transform the coffee industry,”
said Norman Mutekanga, the business development manager at Uganda Coffee Development Authority.

In Uganda, annual coffee consumption quadrupled over the past five years from less
than 50,000 60-kilogram bags to more than 200,000 bags, according to UCDA. In Ethiopia, local consumption hit 3.1 million bags in 2013, up from 2.8 million bags in 2010.

Despite growing demand, African farmers who rely on rain and basic farming
methods can’t take advantage of the situation, according to the regional coffee
body, East African Fine Coffees Association.

Coffee produces erratic and unreliable income so farmers are switching to
growing cereals and grains which produce a crop in a single season. By comparison, a coffee tree takes three to five years to mature.

Angola produced around 5 percent of annual world coffee until the mid-1970s, but has lost its place among sub-Saharan Africa’s top producers after farmers abandoned coffee crops.

John Kyeyune has worked on his five-acre coffee farm in central Uganda since the 1990s but his coffee trees are up to 40 years old and he said his harvests keep decreasing.
“I used to harvest more than 100 bags, but in recent years, I count myself lucky with 60
bags,” he told WallStreetJournal.

Kyeyune’s plight is like that of millions of small farmers in the region who
produce most of the coffee but lack the capital to rehabilitate and maintain farmlands.

The Ugandan government put in place a coffee-growing campaign, planting new high-yielding varieties and introducing coffee farming in new regions, but the initiatives haven’t trickled down to smaller landowners. As a result, the country hasn’t met its target of restoring output to at least 4 million bags.

In countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, output is down almost 50 percent as plantations fall into neglect.

In Uganda, local consumption is still small, but growing demand from local drinkers adds to an already strained market. Severe drought in Brazil impacted supplies from the world’s largest coffee producer. Demand is up among big roasters in Europe and the U.S. coffee prices on global exchanges have skyrocketed, WallStreetJournal reports.

The cost of arabica coffee, known for its mild taste, has increased more than 80 percent
this year, while robusta demand is up about 27 percent, according to the ICE Futures
U.S. exchange.

Prices for coffee in Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania have risen an average of 30 percent since the beginning of 2014, WallAtreetJournal reports. But outdated farming practices and neglect from years of volatile coffee prices left many parts of Africa with decreased capacity to produce. Whenever prices drop, farmers abandon plantations, even uprooting their trees. They attempt to boost output again only when the market recovers.

“Every exporter is now looking for more coffee beans,” says Nelson Niwahebwa, the general manager of an exporting company, Banyankole Kweterana Ltd., in Uganda’s main robusta-growing region. “It’s not easy to even meet contractual obligations with our existing clients.”

Uganda historically produces robusta beans, but the government has been encouraging
farmers to plant the more desirable arabica variety. Arabica now accounts for 30 percent of production, up from around 15-to-20 percent three years ago, according to WallStreetJournal.