Coffee Value Chain Actors Call on Government to Regulate Importation of Coffee into the Local market

On 17th March 2022, SEATINI Uganda in partnership with the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) organised a multi-stakeholder under the theme; Unlocking the Potential of Coffee Value Chains in Uganda.

The dialogue brought together key stakeholders in the coffee value chain including coffee farmers from Mubende and Mbale; farmers representation from the national farmers federation and the District farmers associations in the two districts; representatives from civil society organization both at national level but from the two districts of Mubende and Mbale; Youth representatives, Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies including MAAIF, Uganda Investment Authority and Uganda Export Promotion Board.
The specific objectives of the dialogue were:
• To bring together value chain actors in the coffee sector to share experiences and build synergies with policy makers.
• To appreciate the dynamics of coffee at national, regional and global level.
• To share and generate information regarding the ongoing processes and existing policies like the National Coffee Act and the International Coffee Agreement.
• To chat a way forward on how to unlock the potential of the coffee value chain actors’ voices and recommendations on how to unlock the potential of the coffee value chains.

During her opening remarks, Ms Jane Nalunga, Executive Director, SEATINI Uganda emphasized that coffee is a very important product to our country and therefore it’s a game changer that can help uplift people from poverty and also enhance the country’s export earnings. She also noted that SEATINI Uganda is implementing the Fair for All Project in Mubende and Mbale districts and during the implementation period, there was realisation that there is disjointed information in the community and that farmers in the coffee sector and value chain are many facing various challenges.
“How shall we brand our coffee for the international market if we continue to serve Nescafe and other foreign brands to tourists? We need to embrace the use of domestic coffee brands so that we can motivate our farmers, Ms Jane Nalunga said”.

Ms Mary Jesca Nankabirwa, a coffee farmer from Mubende revealed the various challenges faced by women in the coffee sector which include; high cost of labour at the farm level, women do not own land and thus this deprives them of the potential benefits and during harvesting stage, men negotiate the prices and therefore control the finances accruing from the selling of coffee.

Ms Brenda Opus from Uganda Export Promotion Board revealed that UEPB works towards trade and market information and coordinates development of exports.
“UEPB works closely with MAAIF to ensure that farmers are guided to meet international standards (right from input application) as well as other stages of production,” Ms Brenda Opus said.

Mr David Ssentogo from Uganda National Farmers’ Federation noted that the farmers know about the quality however their capacity to meet the quality needed is still low. The biggest challenge is that the average coffee farmer is an elderly person because the youth do have the resources and they do not own land and thus have limited motivation and interest to invest in value addition.

Ms Jackie Arinda, the CEO JADA Coffee noted that there is market for coffee no matter the quality. However, there is need to educate farmers and value chains actors on market linkages. UCDA needs to prioritize providing market information to farmers and value chain actors in order to unlock the potential of value chains.

Hon. Nandala Mafabi called on government to take the initiative to lead marketing of coffee in international markets like Rwanda. ”Government should encourage coffee consumption e.g. complying all government departments to take coffee as well as regulate poor post-harvest handling of coffee and penalize those who use bad practices,” Hon. Nandala Mafabi said.

During the panel discussions and the plenary sessions, participants were able to share experiences and perspectives from their respective institutions of the opportunities and challenges within the coffee sector. The panellists recognized the various challenges faced by all actors along the value chain right from application of inputs, farming, post-harvest handling as well as agro-processing.

Some of the challenges identified by coffee farmers and other value chain actors included; the high costs of labour on the farms, the poor agricultural inputs including pesticides and herbicides that compromise the quality of coffee, the poor agronomic practices particularly sale of premature coffee due to poverty as well as the poor post-harvest handling practices in terms of storage and drying.

Participants also highlighted a number of opportunities in the sector. It was noted that there is need to shift mindsets from the current narrative of focusing on production and export volumes of coffee beans to increasing value addition through processing and consumption of our products from coffee. The discussions also pointed on the need to promote our brand both in local and international markets as a way of boosting value for coffee.

The dialogue was an opportunity for coffee value chain actors from various institutions and stakeholders to share experiences. It was also an opportunity for various institutions to reflect on how they enhance synergies to ensure value addition in the coffee sector. The dialogue also provided an opportunity for farmers to understand the mandates of different institutions like the Uganda Coffee Development Authority Uganda Export Promotion Board, Uganda Investment Authority among others.

The multi-stakeholder dialogue enabled farmers  and farmers’ representatives to understand where to obtain relevant with regard to production and marketing of coffee. From the meeting, different perspectives on Uganda’s move to withdraw from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) were also shared with mixed perspectives on whether Uganda should have withdrawn from the ICO or not. The participants recommended that;
• There is need to have in place an organic policy to enhance branding of Ugandan Coffee.
• Uganda Coffee Development Authority should regulate middlemen by registering them and ensuring that their activities are tracked so as to reduce on the malpractices within the sector. Middlemen can also be regulated by setting of prices for coffee at all levels of the value chain to minimize exploitation of farmers.
• Enhance access to resources for the youth including land, finance and market information.
• There is need to revamp the cooperatives by government as a means of enhancing quality of coffee.
• The Uganda Export Promotion Board should information to consumers on the types of products they consume. This helps to understand the local products on the shelves so that they can be purchased locally.

As part of the way forward, participants recommended the following;
• Uganda Coffee Development Authority should regulate middlemen by registering them and ensuring that their activities are tracked so as to reduce on the malpractices within the sector. Middlemen can also be regulated by setting of prices for coffee at all levels of the value chain to minimize exploitation of farmers.
• There is need to enhance access to resources for the youth including land, finance and market information.
• There is need to revamp the Cooperatives by government as a means of enhancing quality of coffee.
• Government should intensify the provision of extension services to coffee farmers so that they can access the services they need. Extension services should not be left to be demand driven.
• Government needs to regulate importation of coffee in the local market. This should be done by use of tax policy.
• There is need to establish storage and drying facilities at parish in all coffee growing locations.
• UCDA should regulate the use of non-organic inputs like herbicides and pesticides and that Organic inputs should be encouraged.
• The Uganda Export Promotion Board should share information with consumers on the types of products they consume. This helps to understand the local products on the shelves so that they can be purchased locally.

SEATINI-Uganda is currently implementing a project dubbed “Fair for All, improving Coffee Value Chains” which aims at Advocating for public policies and private sector practices that strengthen small and medium scale farmers in the coffee value chain, like better prices, better access to finance, public investment in processing and value addition.