The European Union (EU) has extended by one year the registration of all players in the coffee value chain as part of a nationwide effort to comply with the EU’s new coffee trade regulations.
The exercise was supposed to end by December 30th 2024 and so far 186,434 famers from 21,863 farms have been registered.
While addressing journalists at the Uganda Media Center, Frank Tumwebaza, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries said that coffee being a worldwide consumer product, the EU found it necessary to extend the period of registration to make sure all famers get a chance to be registered.
Tumwebaze adds that they will ensure that all farmers are registered but once the period elapses those who will have missed out, they will not be able to sell their coffee to the EU market.
He called upon farmers to embrace the registration exercise because the initiative is a critical step in ensuring Uganda’s coffee sector meets the EU’s stringent European Union Due Diligence Regulation (EUDR) compliance deadline.
Meanwhile, Minister Tumwebaze has revealed that only officers who will be able to find work placements in the respective ministries where their agencies have been merged will be considered for inclusion on the Government payroll.
Government embarked on a comprehensive rationalization process through which it merged agencies, commissions and authorities that were approved for transfer back to their mother ministries as departments or directorates to save taxpayers’ money which created anxiety among the former employees of these entities.
Tumwebaze says that he is not sure that the Government will employ all the affected officers who have been working in the streamlined agencies, which may result in the laying off with terminal benefits of those who may not be absorbed into the ministries.
In this financial year 2024/25 Government allocated Shs 73.6 billion to cover pension, gratuity, and severance packages for at least 2,500 employees affected across 60 Government agencies.
Already a total of 219 employees from 21 Government agencies have been confirmed to have lost their jobs by September 30th 2024 as the rationalization of agencies commenced.
By Charles Katabalwa
19 Nov 2024
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