By Andrew S.K Kaggwa
KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWSDAY coffee farmers have disagreed over the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) unilaterally withdrawing the country from the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).
UCDA on February 2, 2022 wrote to ICO confirming its decision not to renew their two-year extension of their membership. Uganda had indicated its intention to withdraw last September.
UCDA wants the ICO and its agreement to do more with price volatility, climate change, and import tariffs.
The red flag to the UCDA decision was at first raised by Robert Kabushenga, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vision Group but now growing coffee at his Rugyeyo Farm, Namayumba, and Wakiso District. Kabushenga first engaged in a bitter Twitter exchange with Agriculture Minister, Frank Tumwebaze but later made his similar views on the Capital Gang show of Capital FM on February 25th, 2022.
“You can’t play around the lives of 12 million Uganda who depend on coffee. Even by the time the Dr. Ihamulemye (the Executive Director of UCDA) signed the letter of withdrawal his contract had expired and UCDA had no board therefore he did it illegally,” Kabushenga said on Capital Gang.
The same views were echoed by the Katikkiro of Buganda Charles Peter Mayiga in a video clip played on the Behind the Headlines show on UBC TV on Wednesday March 2, 2022.
“African countries are now clamoring for a seat on the UN Security Council but I have not seen any African country writing to the UN asking to withdraw from the UN because of this. If UCDA has issues with ICO let them deal with them when they are still inside the organization,” said Mayiga who is promoting the growing of coffee in Buganda under the ‘Emmwanyi Teerimba’ drive.
Ronald Buwule, the Executive Director of Central Coffee Farmers Association (CECOFA) with a membership of over 3,000 members, who export coffee under the Fair Trade arrangement also wondered why UCDA didn’t consult them as stakeholders first before taking the decision to withdraw from ICO. Fair Trade is where certified members export organically grown coffee at prices deemed fair to the farmers.
“We didn’t have a lot of explaining to do when exporting our coffee because we were already recognized under ICO but now that we left ICO they may start putting blockades for us. But then why didn’t UCDA first consult with us the stakeholders before making the rash decision to withdraw?” Buwule asks.
Abdu Katuntu an MP for Bugweri County also speaking on Capital Gang on February 26th said it was stupid for Ugandans to be discussing the withdrawal from ICO when it has already been done and also wondered why UCDA didn’t consult the stakeholders first.
At present Uganda are the world’s eighth largest producer of coffee, and the fourth largest producer of Robusta in the world and Africa’s largest Robusta producer. In Africa Uganda is the second largest producer of Robusta and Arabica combined after Ethiopia.
“We want to have our interests catered for, we think the ICO needs reforms.” said UCDA managing director Emmanuel Iyamulemye in an appearance on the Behind the Headlines UBC shows on February 26th and later the Capital Gang on March 5, 2022.
Iyamulemye said ICO is no longer relevant since it no longer sets quotas as they collapsed in 2018, does not set prices and isn’t a regulator. However, on all fora he has appeared, he has not explained why UCDA took a unilateral decision to withdraw from ICO without consulting the stakeholders who include coffee farmers, traders and exporters.
Nandala Mafabi, who is the Board Chairman of the Bugisu Cooperative Union perhaps the only remaining vibrant cooperative union and who are the biggest exporters of Arabica Coffee in Uganda, supported the UCDA withdrawal from ICO.
“In 2009 I went to an ICO meeting and I discovered that this was just a talk shop. It was just a waste of our money. People just go there to get per diem and shopping. In 2010 the former UCDA boss Ngabirano asked me to go back and I refused,” Mafabi who is also a legislator for Budadiri County West said on Behind the Headlines show.
However, Nandala lambasted UCDA for not doing enough to market coffee even internally where many people avoid taking it because they have been ‘lied’ that taking coffee caused hypertension.
He further lashed at UCDA for not doing enough to see that new coffee trees are planted.
‘Many farmers are now harvesting coffee from trees planted by their grandfathers. We want to see many new trees planted,” Nandala said.
In a press release by the ICO on February 22nd 2022 it said that since receiving the notification from the UCDA, the ICO and the Chair of the International Coffee Council (ICC) have made several attempts to engage with Ugandan authorities, including President Museveni, without any response.
‘”The Ugandan authorities had abundant opportunities but decided not to address these issues within the established negotiation and decision-making mechanisms of the ICA 2007 and the ICO,” the press release reads in part.
According to a website https://stir-tea-coffee.com/ which writes about tea and coffee issues Uganda is the third major country to withdraw from ICO in recent years: the US, a major ICO funding partner exited in 2018 under the Trump administration; and Guatemala, a major coffee producer left in 2020.
However, according to this website, ICO gained major members in 2021: UK joined as a separate country after leaving the EU, and Nigeria, listed as the world’s 41st largest coffee producer joined in 2021.
Iyamulemye claimed Vietnam which is one of the biggest coffee exporters will be following soon.
Andrew S.K Kaggwa is a freelance science journalist
Phone contacts: +256 772 402 659/ + 256 705 289 307
Email: sajaggwa@gmail.com
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