Museveni, MPs resolve to rationalise coffee, dairy development authorities

President Museveni and MPs on the Parliamentary Committees of Agriculture, National Economy and Finance have agreed to proceed with the rationalisation of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and Dairy Development Authority (DDA) to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The decision was taken during Tuesday’s meeting at State House Entebbe that was attended by MPs on the committee, including Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya-Kabonero) and Basil Bataringaya (Kashari North).

Kashari North’s Bataringaya informed journalists on Wednesday that the meeting agreed to have DDA, which MPs had earlier refused to be rationalized, to this time be rationalized and returned to the ministry.

However, he said UCDA will have its rationalization delayed for three years to allow stakeholders to agree on how the coffee sector will be regulated in Uganda.

“The conclusion was that the Dairy Development Authority is returned to the Ministry so it is rationalized. So the law is concluded. Regarding Uganda Coffee Development Authority, the President, in the spirit of ensuring that his vision is achieved, he agreed with the MPs that yes, let us rationalize but it being a strategic enterprise in the country, it is given time so that some issues are sorted out. Those that need to be taken to the Ministry are taken to the Ministry,” said Bataringaya.

“So the decision that we have three years of UCDA, going forward, so that at the end of the three years, all the stakeholders would have reached the conclusion on how to handle the strategic coffee sector. It means that UCDA will continue with regulation of the coffee sector, but assisted by the Ministry of Agriculture because the fear of the MPs is that the people of the Ministry of Agriculture might not be having the capacity that has been built in UCDA to receive and push forward, our coffee sector,” Bataringaya (Kashari North) further explained.

Bwanika who is a member of the Agriculture Committee revealed that during the meeting, the President presented his case why we should rationalize the Diary Development Authority and Uganda Coffee Development Authority where he informed MPs of the need to save money, but Bwanika explained that the MPs also presented their case, expressing their fears about the competence of the Ministry of Agriculture to handle the mandate of UCDA, which Authority is seeing one of the most strategic commodities for Uganda.

“We told him (President Museveni) that the Ministry of Agriculture has no capacity in terms of doing the mandate of UCDA. The main mandate of UCDA is regulation of quality and this is very important for our international market. UCDA has entities that certified, should we change that, we are going to lose our quality on the international market, Uganda’s robust coffee is number three on the globe. We told that President that if we go that direction, we are going to lose our market, we are going to distort the market on which the livelihood of the people of Uganda rely on, 12.5 million people,” he explained.

Bataringaya also detailed the fears expressed by MPs on the risk Uganda’s coffee sector would be exposed to, if there is laxity in its regulation while under the Ministry of Agriculture noting, “And our fear is that the sector that has picked up shouldn’t lose focus, shouldn’t lose track and the 20 million bags that we anticipate in the short term should be a vision that we achieve. Therefore, the conclusion is that the law is carried on but implementation is put in place later when the necessary ingredients that make it integrated in the Ministry of Agriculture are achieved.”