M7 blasts Mayiga over coffee bill

By Ritah Kemigisa.

President Yoweri Museveni told off the Buganda Premier Charles Peter Mayiga to stop spreading lies about the contentious coffee bill, 2018.

The Kingdom premier thinks that if the Bill is enacted into law with clauses that compel farmers to register, many small scale coffee producers will be forced out of the industry yet government intends to sell at least 20 million bags of coffee annually.

However Museveni last evening labelled Mayiga a liar saying the bill only requires coffee farmers to register themselves in an association just like it is done for cattle keepers and fish farmers.

Museveni says registration will help in traceability of farmers especially for exporters since it is one of the requirements by the big markets.

The Bill seeks to repeal the Uganda Coffee Development Authority Act, which mainly emphasizes off-farm activities of marketing and processing but leaving out on-farm activities such as planting materials, nursery beds, harvesting and post-harvest handling.

Written by David Kugonza