Uganda withdraws from extension of international coffee pact

Uganda withdrew from a two-year extension of the International Coffee Agreement as Africa’s top exporter of the beans lobbies to get funding support for farmers.

The International Coffee Organization’s 2007 agreement must help offset the challenges faced by producers, including price volatility, climate change and import tariffs on value-added beans, said Emmanuel Iyamulemye, managing director of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority. Uganda will wait to see whether the ICO addresses its concerns, he said.

“We want to have our interests catered for,” Iyamulemye said Friday in an interview in the capital, Kampala. “We think the ICO needs reforms.” 

Africa’s biggest robusta coffee producer will decide on its future membership after engaging with the ICO, he said. The ICO said Uganda’s withdrawal from the agreement became effective on Feb. 2, after the country flagged its intention not to join the extension in September.

Output in the East African nation is projected to climb 12% in the season through September, according to the authority.