By Vision Reporter
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reiterated his call to add value to Ugandan and African coffee at large, saying if this is done, coffee producers will get a fair share of the global market.
“A kilogramme of coffee beans of good quality may go for $2.5 (sh9,000) per kg. The same quantity of coffee roasted, ground and packaged may go for US$40 (sh145,000),” he said.
“This is where there is massive haemorrhage of money from the global South to the global North. It is not only the loss of money per kg. It is also the loss of jobs.
“If you take the whole spectrum of raw materials from agriculture, minerals, forest products, etc., the loss to Africa is massive.”
These were some of Museveni’s remarks on Tuesday as he officiated at the opening of the three-day second G-25 Africa Coffee Summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo in Uganda’s capital Kampala.
The summit is themed around transforming the African coffee sector through value addition.
It has drawn hundreds of stakeholders from top coffee-producing and coffee-exporting countries on the continent.
‘Win-win strategy’
Museveni said that in many Ugandan sectors, including that of coffee, the country is still losing a lot of money and jobs on account of exporting unprocessed raw materials abroad.
He advised that raw materials-producing countries need to conduct internal struggles in their respective countries to add value to these raw materials, including coffee, so that they earn more from their sweat and create more jobs for their youth.
“What will the USA or Europe or Asia lose if Africa sells value-added coffee to them instead of the raw material form and earn more money?” asked the President.
“What if the value addition is done to the other raw materials ─ copper, gold, iron ore, lithium, etc.?
“Money to Africa will mean higher purchasing power for Africa. The Africans who now lack electricity will be able to afford to pay for electricity. Where will the turbines come from? Will they not come for Europe, USA, Russia, China, or from other partners?
“How can greed obscure rationality to such an extent?
“Global affluence will benefit everybody. Down with imperialism, down with parasitism, long live the win-win strategy,” said Museveni.
