In Dho-Alur, the language spoken by the local community of Nyapea in West Nile, Mitapila is the name given to the river that runs alongside the coffee-growing area. Locally, the name is associated with something sweet or delicious — a fitting name for a coffee grown from these fertile lands.
This coffee is produced by 312 smallholder farmers (241 men, 71 women) around the Mitapila Microstation in Nyapea Sub-county, Zombo District, at 1,475 metres above sea level. The microstation was formed in 2021 at the suggestion of the Agency for Community Empowerment (AFCE), the local development partner of Zombo Coffee Partners. The station delivered its first dry coffee that same harvest.
The farmers around Mitapila follow the traditional model farming of the Alur Highlands: small, at around half an acre or 300 trees each, grown under mature shade close to the family compound and interplanted with bananas, cassava, beans and potatoes.
Cherries are naturally fermented for 36 hrs in closed bins, then dried on raised trays that are brought indoors each night.
