By Editorial,
At least 1.7 million coffee farmers have so far been registered in the National data warehouse, as the country approaches the December 31st deadline to comply with the European Union’s deforestation-free commodities regulations.
In October, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, and the different partners rolled out the national coffee farmers’ registration exercise, as a crucial requirement for continuing to access the European Union coffee market, which currently is the key destination for Uganda’s produce.
Through the registration, farmers are issued unique identification codes to act as proof that they did not cut down forests to set up coffee plantations. The codes can be used in tracing the origin of the coffee, right from the plantation through the Global Positioning System (GPS) locators.
Reuben Keimusya, the Assistant Commissioner for Coffee Production in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, observes that the company entrusted with the responsibility of conducting registration has so far uploaded data for 1.2 million farmers from across the country. Keimusya says that besides fulfilling the European Union Deforestation Regulations (EUDR), the registration is also a great opportunity for the country to update its farmers’ register, which will eventually facilitate better planning. ENDS
