In September 2025, Semilla Coffee started buying cherries from several
communities located in the Rwenzori mountain range of the Kabarole
district around the city of Fort Portal in Western Uganda. Together with a
handful of dedicated coffee producers with little experience in agronomy
but no active participation in processing their own raw material, Semilla helped set up
a micro washing station with the goal to shift the proportions of the local
coffee supply chain closer to farmer-led processing structure, enabling
the producers to collect, deliver and process their coffee cherries
themselves with full traceability and transparency on their own harvest
data.
Empaako (rutooro for “pet
name”) Collective, a company
Semilla founded together with
Kabuuka Elimethidas and his
wife Immaculate Karungi, is
now actively supporting more
than 100 growers and aims to
continue with more for the
upcoming years. With 10 more
permanent members of the
team, the goal is to ensure a
steady and strong support and
feedback for smallholder
growers who are the everyday
workers in their coffee gardens
and struggle daily with pests
and diseases, lack of fertilizers
and tools while suffering under
highly volatile prices. Morning Glory is now committed to supporting Empaako directly/. This is project is a great point of pride for Dom, our roaster, and MG as a whole, as it was Dom who connected Eli with Semilla.
Dom and Eli worked together in 2020 and 2021 on cherry sourcing and processing for another green coffee company who were expanding into the region.
The Rwenzori's are now alive with the hum of coffee washing stations. This can be a great benefit to the communities there, if done right. We at MG believe in Eli, Immaculate and Semilla.