KAMPALA – In Uganda’s hillsides, millions of smallholder farmers wake before dawn to tend two of the country’s most prized exports: coffee and cocoa. For generations, these beans have been bagged, shipped across oceans, and transformed into high-priced lattes and artisanal chocolate bars in European and American cities, often leaving the farmers who grew them with only a fraction of the final profit.
Uganda is now moving to rewrite that story by turning its farms into the main attraction.
At the Uganda Coffee & Cocoa Expo 2026 in Kampala, tourism officials and agricultural leaders unveiled a plan to integrate coffee and cocoa production directly into the national tourism offering, with official pilot experiences set to launch in selected farming regions in 2027.
The strategy marks a fundamental shift in how Uganda markets itself to the world. For decades, the country’s tourism industry has hinged on safari vehicles, mountain gorillas, and the iconic banks of the River Nile. While wildlife draws thousands of visitors, it rarely brings tourist dollars directly into the hands of ordinary rural households. By opening farm gates to international travelers, officials hope to diversify the tourism portfolio while creating an immediate, secondary income stream for farming families.
“By connecting farmers and producers with the tourism value chain, we can curate authentic experiences that allow visitors to enjoy these products, understand their origins and share Uganda’s story with the world,” said Francis Nyende, Marketing Manager at the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB).
Under the proposed model, visitors will do more than observe; they will trek through farm plots, participate in harvesting and drying, interact directly with local growers, and taste finished coffee and cocoa right where it was cultivated.
For ordinary Ugandans, the stakes of this shift are high. Agriculture and tourism serve as twin pillars of the national economy, driving rural employment. Yet because much of Uganda’s coffee and cocoa is exported as raw, unbranded commodities, international supply chains absorb most of the marketing and branding value. Agritourism offers a rare chance to reclaim that identity, keeping more of the economic value rooted in local soil.
International tour operators at the Expo signaled strong commercial interest, but success will ultimately depend on execution.
Industry observers warn that the initiative faces steep logistical hurdles. If rural infrastructure, such as feeder roads and farm-stay accommodations, remains weak, or if tour operators monopolize profits, smallholders risk being left behind. Crucially, stakeholders must prevent authentic rural life from degrading into staged, performative folklore for foreign camera lenses.
If executed equitably, the initiative will do more than give travelers another reason to visit, it will give the men and women who power Uganda’s agricultural engine a direct stake in its global brand.