Religious leaders call for sensitisation on EU coffee registration

The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) has called for more sensitisation of coffee farmers about the registration exercise that seeks to comply with European Union export guidelines.

With less than three months for Uganda to comply with the European Union Deforestation Regulations (EUDR), IRCU said the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) must do more to reach out to the ordinary coffee farmers in the rural areas who may misinterpret the whole aim of the registration exercise.

“We were told about the legislation coming from the European Union, and we were convinced that it is important that the farmers register because we don’t want to lose that market. We have a role as Inter-Religious Council of Uganda and as faith communities in this in this country, we need to mobilise to ensure that the farmers get the right information about the registration,” Mr Joshua Kitakule, the IRCU secretary general, said during an engagement with UCDA officials and other partners in Kampala.

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which takes effect in January 2025, stipulates that farmers must prove that their coffee has not been grown on land where deforestation has taken place.

About 63 percent of Uganda’s coffee exports end up in the EU market, hence the urgency of the registration exercise.

“We are aware about the resentment, especially around the  central region and we, I think it is important that more information is provided and we educate them more so that we reduce that resentment. We think that registration is critical if we are going to export our coffee to the European Union,” Mr Kitakule said.

He said that IRCU has agreed to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with UCDA to ensuring the prompt fulfilment of the programme.

“We agreed that we are going to sign a memorandum of understanding, in which we will agree on the different roles that we will be playing, especially in mobilising and making sure that every coffee farmer gets registered,” he stated.

“We are also  going to offer our structures, both the social media, the televisions, the associations, but more importantly, the spaces around the mosque and the churches to ensure that every Friday, every Saturday, every Sunday, there is a message going out to the coffee farmers about the importance of registration, because we think that this regulation is critical, and improving on quality, but also ensuring that we keep the European Union market,” he added.

Mr Robert Nangatsya, the UCDA manager for extension services, said IRCU is crucial in ensuring the success of the registration exercise given its influence and expertise in conflict resolution, peace building and advocacy.

Mr Nangatsya said the registration process aims to collect data that will be fed into a digital system to ascertain whether the plot from which the coffee is grown was deforested after 2020, as required by the EUDR.

“Coffee employs over 1.8 million households and 12 million people directly. Uganda’s total exports to EU have averaged 63 percent and this year alone it rose to 73 percent. Therefore, the regulation directly impacts Uganda’s coffee exports to the EU. Because of this regulation, exporters are required to prove they have not got coffee from an area which has been deforested,” he said.

The government has so earmarked Shs13.9 billion towards the registration exercise.

For farmers with 10+ acres, polygons of their farms will be created for record purposes, enabling easy tracing of exported coffee.