Leaders from 25 coffee-growing countries in Africa are today expected to meet in Uganda for the opening of a key summit aimed at discussing value-addition to the continent’s greatest produce.
Frank Tumwebaze, the agriculture minister, said the summit will take place 7-10, August at Speke Resort Hotel, Munyonyo located on shores of Lake Victoria.
The theme for the Summit of the 25 African Coffee Producing Countries is “Transforming the African Coffee Sector through Value Addition.”
The 25 coffee-growing nations in Africa are currently Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“The goal of the G-25 Africa Coffee Summit is to address the challenges faced by the African coffee-producing countries, promote value addition and domestic consumption in conjunction with educating people on coffee and its benefits on health,” Tumwebaze said.
He explained further that the specific objectives of the summit will be to discuss and emphasize the importance of Coffee Value Addition in the Socio-Economic transformation of African Economies.
The leaders will aim at marshaling consensus of African Coffee Producing Countries’ leaders towards “giving prominence to coffee as a strategic commodity under the AU Agricultural Agenda 2063”.
The summit also aims to create opportunities and synergies to expand regional coffee trade under the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), “share knowledge about the eminent danger that climate change poses on coffee and the need for continuous investment in Research, Innovation and Development so as to build resilient coffee varieties.”
According to the minister, Africa produces about 12% of the world’s coffee which is the continent’s most important agricultural crop.
“But while Uganda is currently the leading coffee exporter in Africa, and the second-largest coffee producer in Africa, having exported over 5.76 million bags 60Kg worth USD 846 million in FY2021/22, much of this is unprocessed in the form of green beans,” Tumwebaze said.
The summit comes a week after President Yoweri Museveni opened the Uganda Trade Hub in Belgrade, Serbia.
The hub will serve to market Uganda’s 13 key products, which include coffee as the leading export.
