PRIMEIs the EU coffee rule worthwhile?

The new regulation demanding coffee farmers and exporters to prove that the commodity did not contribute to deforestation before being allowed access to the European Union (EU) market has suddenly sent the sector regulator into an overdrive mode, if not, a state of uncertainty, Prosper Magazine has established. As a result, the reverberation is evident across the coffee sector value chain with the majority of the producers of the country’s leading foreign earner left to speculate over what the future holds for them as the EU directive edges closer.
Coffee is no ordinary commodity in Uganda. It is a livelihood. More than 1.8 million households grow coffee which contributes nearly a third of the country's export earnings.In the last five years, Uganda doubled its coffee earnings to about $1 billion. In 2023/24 alone, coffee exports were 6.13 million bags valued at $1.144 billion in 2023/24. This was an increase of 6 percent in volume and 35 in value compared to Financial Year 2022/23 when exports were 5.8 million bags valued at $846 million.
Currently, farmers are earning the highest prices in 30 years, generating revenue of Shs82 billion last financial year as Uganda bean maintains its high demand in global coffee markets for its quality. According to UCDA, coffee exports in July set a record of 821, 593 bags valued at $ 210.48 million (about Shs780 billion) - the highest volume ever exported in a single month.With the current trajectory, the Coffee Roadmap target of 20 million 60 kg bags produced by 2030 looks achievable. At the same time, the roadmap signed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in 2017, setting a target for foreign exchange earnings of $ 1.5 billion annually from the $ 20 million bags seems within reach with the current trend.
 So when the EU Regulation on Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR) aiming at ensuring no commodities produced through deforestation are exported to the EU market, entered into force on 29th June 2023, it threw a spanner in the works – disrupting coffee trade with the EU where 60 percent of Uganda’s coffee is exported. The regulation applies to commodities such as coffee, cattle, wood, cocoa, soy, palm oil, rubber, and some of their derived products, such as leather, chocolate, coffee capsules, tyres, or furniture.Applying to both small and large quantities, an exporter to the EU must first ascertain that these products do not originate from recently deforested land or have contributed to deforestation or forest degradation.
The Regulation applies to all products placed on the market from December 30, 2024, and June 30, 2025 for small businesses and will be implemented through a stringent traceability mechanism under EU Customs procedures. “For Uganda, this unilateral EUDR has sent the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) in an urgent mode as it has embarked on a campaign to register all coffee farmers, a starting point for compliance with the EUDR.
This mandatory registration has elicited mixed reactions as others claim it is a move by corrupt government officials to gag and tax coffee farmers while others believe it should be marketed as a guarantor for better coffee prices. “However, the truth is that the government is a victim and as vulnerable to the EUDR as the coffee farmers,” Mr Africa Kiiza, a researcher wrote in his expert analysis on the matter.The PhD fellow, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences; Universität Hamburg, noted in his assessment that: “The EUDR was unilaterally enacted and presented on a take-it or leave-it basis that Uganda had to capitulate as the EU is the leading buyer of the country’s coffee, accounting for 72 percent of total exports as of June 2024.”
Green colonialism?Drawing from his experience on international trade and investment policy research and analysis, he reckons that although the intention of the EUDR is commendable, critical assessment combined with the geopolitics of affected products such as coffee renders the whole move in the territory of green colonialism which is akin to a wolf in sheep's clothing.
The EU move is an extension of the centuries-old control and resource exploitation being manifested in new forms, dressed in appealing rhetoric rotating around environmental, social, and governance considerations, yet this is about profiting from the commodity, but repackaged as a conserving nature campaign.
 “In our collective search to mitigate the climate crisis, the global community has rallied around ideals such as “green transitions” and “just transitions,” viewing them as messengers or solutions for a more equitable future.“However, a deeper exploration into many narratives that come with this and their practical applications reveals a starkly different reality,” authors, namely: Juliana Vélez-Echeverri, a researcher and the co-founder of the Latin-American Centre of Environmental Studies (CELEAM), Tatiana Garavito, a climate justice analyst and Muszczak Emilie, an illustrator based in Brussels, revealed in their publication titled: What is Green Colonialism?
Burdening farmersDeforestation – cutting down of trees, is not a problem in the coffee sector. Since 2020, the proportion of coffee planted in forested areas in Uganda has been relatively low, with estimates ranging between 10 percent and 20 percent at most.A territorial mapping conducted by UCDA in February 2024, discovered that only five plots were growing coffee in deforested areas as majority of coffee farmers practice agroforestry.
 “Based on these findings, it would be logical for Ugandan coffee to be designated as deforestation-free while allowing UCDA more time to register farmers for traceability aspects. But with the EU insisting that all farmers be registered while allocating less transition period, this illuminates paternalism rather than partnership in the Euro-Uganda trade relationship,” Mr Kiiza wrote in his analysis to Prosper Magazine.
As for Ms Jane Nalunga, a regional trade and investment expert, the narrative that coffee growing promotes forest destruction, especially for Uganda, is inaccurate.She said: “The narrative that we cut down forests to grow coffee needs to be countered. People have been planting trees within the coffee. A good example is the Mutuba tree and Back-cloth tree, which coexisted alongside coffee. So the claim that coffee is grown in deforested areas is not accurate.
According to Mr Kiiza, the coloniality of the EUDR is visible from the lack of any tangible benefits to coffee farmers who will comply with this expensive regulation. For example, coffee farmers in Uganda who are certified by the Rainforest Alliance, which is similar to the EUDR are paid premium prices of an extra Shs100 above the market price.However, he says, the EUDR adds the burden of compliance to the farmers while retaining the century-old exploitative relationship of value extraction by the EU coffee roasters and coffeehouse chains for pitiful prices to farmers.
A 2023 report by the European Coffee Federation notes that the EU held over 32 percent of the global revenue in 2023 due to its position as being home to the largest coffee-roasting industry in the world.Amidst this mega wealth where the global North with the EU playing a leading role, enjoys 90 percent of the approximated $140 billion coffee industry value is the misery and wretchedness of the coffee farmers in the global South like Uganda who share a pitiful 10 percent.
 “It is not surprising that Uganda’s trade deficit keeps widening. A 2023 40-tonne Mercedes-Benz Actros long-haul truck costs approximately €130,000 excluding VAT. With a 60kg coffee bag currently costing approximately $243, it means Uganda will require 557 bags of coffee to import one truck,” researcher Kiiza analysis points out.Given the present unfair division of labour, whereby advanced countries such as Germany produce high-priced goods which are always going up in value, while Uganda produces low-priced goods whose value is always declining, we shall not make much progress.
 “Therefore, the EUDR won’t address such an exploitative trade relationship where Uganda is locked in as a primary commodity exporter of green coffee beans to the EU. This mirrors neocolonialism - the use of economic or other pressures to control or influence other economies.“As if locking us in such a lower value chain was not insulting enough, Uganda, whose global CO2 emissions were 0.11 percent in 2023 now has to comply with the directive of a region which contributes 3.5 billion tonnes, about 9 percent of global CO₂-emissions annually!” he concluded.
Unilateral decisionsTrade and Development Report 2023, UNCTAD expressed concern over the proliferation of unilateral initiatives like the EUDR and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as they violate the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement.The EUDR is also World Trade Organisation (WTO) non-compliant as it was put forward unilaterally. 
EU marketGlobal revenue share A 2023 report by the European Coffee Federation notes that the European Union (EU) held over 32 percent of the global revenue in 2023 due to its position as being home to the largest coffee-roasting industry in the world.Amidst this mega wealth where the global North with the EU playing a leading role, enjoys 90 percent of the approximated $140 billion coffee industry value is the misery and wretchedness of the coffee farmers in the global South like Uganda who share a pitiful 10 percent.Coffee value chain actors are expected to comply with the European Union Regulation for Deforestation-free Products (EUDR). 
The EUDR aims to ensure that supply chains remain free from products that cause deforestation or forest degradation. The regulation will be implemented retrospectively and commodities like coffee, cocoa, cattle, palm oil, soy, timber, and rubber as well as derived products (such as beef, furniture, or chocolate) that were planted on deforested land from 2021 will not have access to the EU market.