The Minister for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja has said ccoffee exports revenue still constitute the highest proportion of the goods exported by Uganda.
Ssempijja made the revelation while addressing the media today at Uganda Media Centre on matters “Food Loss and Waste in Uganda and Uganda Coffee Export Earning.
“It was 13% in Financial Year 2019/20 as per Bank of Uganda records though it has contributed 20-30% of total goods exports in the last decade,” Ssempijja said.
He added: “Coffee still remains a strategic commodity in the Agro-industrialization agenda under the new National Development Plan 3 due to its potential in providing the highly needed foreign exchange as well as a social balance.”
Ssempijja added that Government desires to see active participation of all coffee stakeholders to ensure that the great strides made will lead to even greater accomplishments in the coffee industry, including meeting the target of producing 20 million 60kg bags of coffee by 2025.
“Government has increased the agricultural extension staff in the field, which will enhance farmer outreach and ensure that farmers receive the knowledge and guidance they need to apply good agronomic practices,” the Minister said.
He noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone in the coffee value chain – farmers, primary processors, secondary processors/exporters, roasters, wholesalers, coffee shops including baristas, as well as consumers.
“It has also directly affected transporters, shippers, warehouse owners, banks, insurance companies, agro-input suppliers, among others,” he said, adding: “It has exacerbated the already dwindling and volatile global coffee prices which have affected coffee farmers and other actors up the value chain.”
