Members of Parliament from the Buganda and Bugisu areas have issued stern warnings in opposition to any try to dissolve the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), stating that such a transfer would have disastrous penalties for Uganda’s espresso trade and have an effect on the livelihoods of over 12.5 million folks.
UCDA performs a vital function in selling and regulating Uganda’s espresso trade by enhancing advertising, guaranteeing export high quality, supporting analysis, and advancing worth addition, whereas coordinating the sector’s actions and formulating related insurance policies.
The proposal to rationalise the UCDA, as a part of the broader authorities plan to streamline public entities, has sparked important debate. Many MPs argue that dissolving the authority would undo the substantial progress the nation has achieved in espresso manufacturing and exports.
Recently, three parliamentary committees on agriculture; finance, and nationwide financial system met with the President and agreed on a legislation to combine the UCDA into the agriculture ministry after a three-year transitional interval. The matter was then referred again to the agriculture committee, chaired by Hon. Linda Auma.
During a committee assembly on Thursday, 17 October 2024 chaired by Hon. Rachel Magoola (NRM, Bugweri District Woman Representative), which is presently reviewing the Rationalisation Bill, Hon. Michael Lulume Bayigga, Vice Chairperson of the Buganda Parliamentary Caucus and Member of Parliament for Buikwe County South, voiced sturdy opposition to the proposal.
He described the agriculture ministry, the establishment set to soak up the UCDA’s capabilities, as inefficient and incapable of managing the espresso sector.
Bayigga emphasised that the UCDA’s 23-year historical past has been marked by success in enhancing the standard and advertising of Ugandan espresso, considerably boosting overseas earnings.
“Unlike different businesses that the federal government seeks to rationalise, this company makes a major contribution to the nationwide purse. Even if it stands alone, it may finance itself. It is a money cow that must be maintained. Through licensing and cess tax alone, UCDA generated Shs82 billion within the final monetary yr,” he stated.
Hon. Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, Chairperson of the Bugisu Cooperative Union, additionally expressed issues, highlighting UCDA’s worldwide recognition and accreditation for overseeing Uganda’s espresso exports. He defined that dissolving the UCDA would depart Uganda dealing with a prolonged and unsure strategy of accrediting a brand new entity, such because the agriculture ministry.
Such a transition, he famous, may take years, throughout which Ugandan espresso would seemingly be positioned on worldwide watch lists, delaying exports and harming farmers and merchants.
“To transfer that accountability from UCDA to the Ministry of Agriculture, in my opinion, would take us as much as 10 years. Accreditation is important for us, and the one entity presently accredited is UCDA,” Nandala-Mafabi, additionally the Budadiri County West Representative, said.
He additional emphasised that Uganda’s espresso trade is self-sustaining and generates important income for the nation. “Coffee shouldn’t be like cotton, an annual crop. Even if the worth falls worldwide, espresso farmers will nonetheless earn one thing and may look ahead to higher costs later. We reside on it, we develop on it, and it’s harmful to tamper with folks’s livelihoods,” he stated.
MPs’ opposition to the rationalisation of UCDA stems from issues that disrupting espresso exports may destabilise the livelihoods of tens of millions of Ugandans who rely on the trade.
Both Bayigga and Nandala-Mafabi burdened that dissolving such a pivotal establishment, with no viable different, would create financial uncertainty and probably cripple one in every of Uganda’s most dear exports.
Hon. Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi (NUP, Butambala County) and likewise the Chairperson of Buganda Parliamentary Caucus added that dismantling UCDA may lead to a scenario much like Uganda’s vanilla commerce, which is now managed by a number of people.
“The accreditation of vanilla exports in Uganda is within the fingers of two or three folks—particular person firms—and it’s now these people who set the costs. They are the patrons, processors, and exporters, and that’s why the vanilla commerce, which as soon as thrived, has collapsed,” he stated.
After the assembly, the committee chairperson introduced that the committee would maintain an inside assembly to scrutinise all of the proposals from those that had appeared earlier than it, including that the committee would prioritise the pursuits of espresso growers in its remaining determination.
