Uganda is set to stop exports of unprocessed coffee, aiming at activating local processing enterprises and improving farmers’ earning from the export of value-added products.
The Ugandan state house said that the shift could reshape farmer earnings, job creation and improve the country’s coffee value chain.
“We must continue to add value to our coffee, cotton, minerals, among others, to create jobs and incomes for our people and revenues for the government to carry out our mega infrastructure projects,” the government said Wednesday in a statement.
The directive is set to significantly improve Uganda’s economy, particularly its agricultural sector, which is heavily reliant on the export of raw produce.
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Current raw exports in Uganda include a wide range of agricultural products such as bananas, beans, maize, rice, cassava, tea, coffee, fruits, and vegetables. In addition, livestock products like meat and dairy, as well as fish from the country’s vast water bodies, are major export earners in their unprocessed form.
“The primary aim of the ban is to encourage local value addition. By processing raw materials within Uganda’s borders, the country stands to gain significantly through increased export value, job creation, and higher national revenue,” it said.
This strategy also aims to position Uganda’s products more competitively on the global market. “Processed and value-added goods tend to fetch higher prices internationally and open up access to more lucrative segments of global trade,” the statement noted.
Museveni noted that stopping the export of unprocessed raw materials like coffee, for example, would enhance Uganda’s industrialisation agenda and create more jobs and incomes, adding that this is a step in the right direction.
“We must continue to add value to our coffee, cotton, minerals, among others, to create jobs and incomes for our people and revenues for the government to carry out our mega infrastructure projects,” the President said in a statement read for him by the Vice President (VP) Jessica Alupo early this month.
AP