The Government of Uganda is working out modalities to ensure that all the coffee produced in the country is sold through cooperatives, URN reports.
According to the Trade and Industries Minister, Amelia Kyambadde, the move is aimed at ensuring coffee farmers get fair prices for their produce.
Although coffee production in the country dropped from 5.1 million bags in the 2017/2018 financial year to 4.5 bags this financial year, Uganda still has hopes of shooting to 20 million bags by 2025.
Kyambadde says the national export development strategy is focusing on increased coffee production to ensure that there is a solid base for the commodity.
She says Uganda Cooperative Alliance has signed an MOU with Uganda Cooperate Development Association to work out a road map of supplying coffee.
The export destinations include Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Ethiopia, South Africa and Egypt among others.
Ivan Asimwe, the General Secretary Uganda Cooperative Alliance, says government has since launched the Coffee Road map to boost coffee production in the country.
He disclosed that cooperatives such as Okolo Coffee and Ankole Coffee Producers Cooperatives Union have signed MOUs with Uganda Coffee Development Authority to handle seedling distribution.
A report issued by UCDA in May this year shows that Uganda lost more than Shillings 386Billion in export receipts in the last 12 months.
It also showed that revenue from coffee exports for the period between April 2018 and April 2019 fell to U$418m about Shillings 1.5 trillion from US$521M (Shillings 1.9 trillion) in the same review period, representing a 19.68 per cent drop in value.
