The former Executive Director of the defunct Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), Dr. Emmanuel Iyamulemye, has passed away this morning after suffering from a long illness.
Lyamulemye’s passing was announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Frank Tumwebaze through his official X account on Tuesday.
“I have learnt this morning with deep sorrow the passing of Dr Emmanuel Lyamulemye, the former ED of UCDA, Dr. Iyamulemye passed away this morning, 18th November 2025.
Min Tumwebaze noted that Dr. Iyamulemye was a pillar of Uganda’s coffee sector and played a key leadership role in the design & implementation of Uganda’s coffee road mad that brought about Uganda’s coffee exponential growth.
“Under his leadership, Uganda strengthened its coffee quality standards, expanded farmer extension support systems, and positioned itself as one of the world’s most competitive coffee origins” he said.
Tumwebaze further noted that the deceased had fought firmly in international coffee bodies demanding for the correct classification of African coffees (Uganda’s robusta & Ethiopia’s Arabica).
“He was a bold, firm and intelligent officer, together with other Colleagues, he worked hard in opening up Uganda’s coffee new markets like China” he said.
The agricultural scientist was previously the national programme coordinator for the Northern Uganda Agriculture Livelihoods Recovery Programme (ALREP) and the Karamoja Livelihoods Programme (KALIP).
Dr. Iyamulemye was first appointed CEO of UCDA in 2016, and in 2021, the UCDA Board renewed his contract for another five years, citing the strong performance of his first term.
UCDA was among the government agencies that were recently dissolved and integrated into the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF).
