The National Coffee Act 2021 was signed into law on 31st August 2021. The Act seeks to address the following gaps in the coffee industry:
Regulating the coffee production from on-farm activities, generation of planting materials, irrigation, pest & disease control & harvesting to off-farm activities including drying, sorting and processing.
The Act empowers UCDA to register all farmers engaged in coffee production to enhance planning, traceability and service delivery. It also provides for registration of coffee farmers, nursery operators, seed gardens operators, farmer organizations & cooperatives.
UCDA will use the information compiled to facilitate the provision of services to coffee farmers individually or through farmer groups. These services include; Extension services on seed gardens & seed management, GAPs, disease & pest control & productivity.
The Act also defines the roles of different stakeholders in the value chain; introducing a voluntary coffee auction system to offer an alternative method of selling coffee.
It also provides for coffee research and development, which is important in the improvement of production and productivity, quality and value addition, market development and intelligence and institutional development and accountability.
Licensing is one of the new features of the Act, a person shall not operate a pulpery, buy coffee, grade coffee, roast coffee, brew coffee, operate a coffee shop or coffee store, a warehouse of coffee huller or process or export coffee on a commercial basis without a license issued by UCDA. It should be noted that Coffee processors and operators of hullers who have no licenses will also be penalized. The purpose of licensing is to protect the consumer and ensure standards are adhered to.
The Act provides for a long list of offences which are punishable under the law, including operating an unregistered coffee nursery or seed garden and selling substandard or diseased planting materials.
These will be punished by “a fine not exceeding one hundred currency points or a term of imprisonment not exceeding four years, or both,” according to the Act. The above penalties will also apply to harvesting of being in possession of immature cherries, poorly stories wet cherries or heaping coffee leading to molding.
Conclusion
The registration will entail capturing details of the size of land, number of coffee trees, particulars of a farmer, coffee buyers, sellers and nursery bed operators. Registration supports the creation of a traceability system that ensures even small holders farmers with microlots can earn premiums from well managed gardens. Microlots are special lots of coffee, selected for their high quality and unique flavour profiles, which Ugandan coffee is known for.
