Inter-Religious Council to rally coffee farmers to register ahead of EU deadline

The Inter-Religious Council of Uganda(IRCU) has accepted to help rally coffee farmers around the country embrace the ongoing registration exercise to comply with European Union guidelines on exports.

On Friday, officials from the Uganda Coffee Development Authority(UCDA) met with IRCU members led by Msgr. Dr. John B. Kauta Secretary General, Uganda Episcopal Conference in Kampala.

During the meeting, Robert Nangatsa, an extension manager at UCDA briefed the members of the Inter-Religious Council of the benefits of registration.

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

“There must be evidence that coffee was got from a deforestation free area. Every batch of coffee must be traced back to the plot of land where it was got every value chain stakeholder will be given a unique identifier.”

He said that the registration will help government know each coffee farmer and because of the unique identifier, it will be easy to trace back coffee exports in case they are not from a deforestation free area.

Uganda Coffee Development Authority officials asked members of the Inter-Religious Council to help support the registration exercise to ensure its success.

“We seek full cooperation from religious leaders, administrative leaders, political leaders and all stakeholders.  We now have many people interested in opening up new land to plant coffee but they ought to follow EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requirements. We request your support and endorsement towards registration of coffee farmers,” Nangatsa said.

“I can confirm the new regulations are in good faith. It is not only applicable to Uganda but many countries that grow coffee in the world. They all have to comply. This regulation aims to ensure protection of biodiversity, halting green emissions. The burden of proof is with the exporter.”

UCDA asked religious leaders to help demystify myths and speculations by some people in regards the registration exercise.

Speaking after the meeting, IRCU Secretary General, Joshua Kitakule said they had been briefed about the new EU regulations and the need to register coffee farmers.

“We were told about the  legislations that are 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  mobilize to ensure that the farmers get the right information about the registration,” Kitakule said.

“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 on that resentment. We  think that registration is critical if we are going to export our coffee to the European Union.”

He said they would sign an MOU with UCDA to agree on the different roles to be played during the registration exercise but also said there will be another meeting with leaders of the different faiths.