Buhweju County was until recently the highest, most in accessible and least developed part of Ankole District in Western Uganda. Because of the steepness of its slopes and quality of its soil, Buhweju did not share in the modest prosperity which came to Ankole with the widespread planting of coffee following the Second World War, The population was slipping away, having dropped by approximately 50% in the previous twenty years, mostly to the neighbouring Igara County, an area much more suitable naturally for peasant-grown coffee.