KAMPALA, September 10, 2024 – The Katikkiro of Buganda, Charles Peter Mayiga has rallied coffee farmers in Uganda to participate in the forthcoming coffee farmers’ registration exercise by providing all the necessary data required by the government.
In a recent meeting with officials from Uganda Coffee Development Authority [UCDA] at Bulange, Mengo in Kampala, Mayiga pointed out that the registration of players in the coffee sector is a golden opportunity for them to be able to sell their produce to the European market with ease.
“Now that the European Union Parliament has come up with the regulation [European Union Deforestation Regulation-EUDR] that has to be followed before exporting our coffee to Europe, it’s the duty of government, UCDA, and everyone to protect the livelihood of over 15 million Ugandans whose livelihood depends on coffee,” he said.
Mayiga noted EUDR is very timely and comes at a time when government is pushing for an Electronic Fiscal Receipting System [EFRIS] that is worrying the business community and he is calling for more sensitisation among the farmers.
“Sensitise the coffee farmers, dealers, and exporters about the need to have them registered because. It’s for their own good. They have to understand that this is not only targeting coffee farmers but even other people dealing in agricultural products grown on land, like beef and cocoa,” he said.
Mayiga appreciated the unwavering support of UCDA, especially in revamping the coffee sector in the Buganda Kingdom.
“When we initiated the Mwanyi Terimba campaign in 2016, the objective was to economically empower the ordinary person in this country where the majority of the citizens are based in rural areas. The reports we have received recently indicate that those who have grown coffee have had their lifestyle and well-being improve steadily,” he added.
UCDA Board Representative for the Mwanyi Terimba campaign, Fred Luzinda Mukasa commended the role of the Mengo Government in revamping the coffee sector in Buganda.
The Director Development Services at UCDA Gerald Kyaalo, briefed the Kingdom officials about the European Union Deforestation Regulation [EUDR], its implementation process, and its benefits.
On December 5, 2022, the European Union [EU] Parliament approved new regulations [EUDR] to ensure that supply chains remain free from products that cause deforestation. EUDR comes into effect on December 31, 2024. The regulation seeks to ensure that palm oil, soy, wood, coffee, cocoa, cattle, rubber, and their associated products, imported or exported or traded with the EU market are not associated with deforestation or forest degradation.
UCDA is in the final stages of rolling out a country-wide coffee value chain registration exercise which will form the basis for coffee traceability.
UCDA enumerators are expected to visit all coffee farms, taking records of data required for EUDR compliance verification like; geo-locations of coffee gardens among others.
Talking about the guidelines, the Executive Director Mwanyi Terimba Charles Kironde says, it is a timely intervention to protect the environment but also streamline quality standards.
“Yes, it is expensive to attain the EUDR at the beginning, but it has several long-term benefits for us the producers and farmers, and exporters, but the regulation will also give us business sustainability,” he said.
Previously, Ugandan coffee farmers had been required to register their coffee farms after government through the Ministry of Finance on February 10, 2022, signed a controversial agreement with Uganda Vinci Coffee Company Limited [UVCCL] represented by Italian businesswoman Enrica Pinetti.
According to government, Vinci under the agreement was to construct a US$ 80 million coffee processing factory in Uganda, and government would ensure that all coffee grown in Uganda is supplied to this company only for processing, and then exporting, thus pushing individuals, companies, associations, and cooperatives out of business. However, Parliament would later pass a resolution urging the government to walk away from the agreement because it granted Pinetti’s company a monopoly in the country’s coffee industry.
The agreement was also widely seen as detrimental to the domestic coffee industry, having been signed a few days after the country departed from the International Coffee Organisation [ICO] which was viewed as suspiciously coincidental timing.
Interviewed over phone for this story, Abed Bwanika, the Member of Parliament for Kilimaanya-Kabonera Division, Masaka City said the legislators were threatened not to continue discussing the Vinci coffee deal. “ We were threatened not to talk about Pinneti, and the coffee deal in parliament, and as MPs we don’t know what is going on,” he told this reporter.
However, Bwanika said government could come up with another deal to benefit Vinci since President Yoweri Museveni still believes the controversial deal was a good one for coffee processing, export and job creation.
Lawyers, Henry Byansi and Micheal Aboneka in April 2022, sued the Attorney General and Uganda Vinci seeking to set aside the said agreement, calling it illegal but Court dismissed their petition.
https://thecooperator.news/divisive-vinci-coffee-deal-court-to-deliver-suit-ruling-in-december/
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