MILAN – Uganda’s coffee is still leading in Africa, an indication that there is an assured international market for the country’s top income earner. To maintain the market, there is need promote value chains in coffee to encourage the youth to tap into the value chain and export more coffee products.
This is according to the USAID deputy mission director, Mark Meassick, during the first Youth Coffee festival organized by the National Union of Coffee Agribusinesses Enterprises (NUCAFE) recently at the UMA show grounds.
He said one of the promoting innovations in coffee is by government implementing the Coffee Policy which will provide a regulatory regime to create an enabling environment for the coffee and entrepreneurs in the sector.
Meassick added that since Uganda’s major export earn is coffee, the policy addresses existing and emerging issues and identifies opportunities for Uganda’s coffee to remain competitive on the international market.
His comments follow reports that Uganda posted gains both in volume and value at the international market, according to the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).
The UCDA monthly report shows that out of the total volume exported in July, Uganda earned $43 million up from $35 million the previous month.
This means that Uganda is the next world’s top five producers of coffee in the next few years.
Uganda is now number seven after Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Honduras, Indonesia and India up from number 10 in 2014.
