The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lwengo, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Coffee farmers in Lwengo district have appealed to the government to capitalize on farmers’ cooperative unions and eliminate exorbitant moneylenders and exploitative brokers who are ruining the subsector by compromising the quality of produce.
Through their umbrella organization, Buddu Rural Coffee Farmers, Nursery Operators Processors Association, farmers have expressed concern about the many informal moneylenders and overzealous loan sharks who exploit them through quick-emergency loan products in exchange for immature coffee beans.
Moses Mubiru, a coffee farmer from Nakateete parish in Kisseka sub-county, Lwengo district, observes that one of their major frustrations is investment capital, which makes them susceptible to brokers and informal moneylenders.
He says this has a direct bearing on the quality of the produce due to the harvesting of unripe beans. He explains that many farmers struggle to buy farm inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides among others in addition to attending to their emergency financial needs, especially during off-season periods.
Consequently, he says that they are compelled to seek high-interest credits from moneylenders, who eventually pressurize them into harvesting unripe coffee beans to service the loans.
Mubiru has appealed to the government to consider capitalizing on well-organized farmers’ cooperative unions to enable them to attend to all the financial needs of their members, the majority of whom he says are ordinary persons who cannot easily access credits from commercial banks.
John Tame Kanagoba, the Chairperson of Kito Parish in Lwengo town council, has asked the government to establish a scheme of directly empowering cooperative unions with the capacity to provide farmers with affordable farm inputs and soft loan products to sustain their lives, as a strategic intervention to edge out loan sharks who exploit both the individuals and supply chain.
He explains that although the majority of the farmers have subscribed to various primary societies, they do not have emergency financial support plans, and as a result, they rush the harvest of their immature coffee to settle their needs.
Farouk Sserwadda, the Programs Officer of Buddu Rural Coffee Farmers, Nursery Operators Processors Association, acknowledges the frustrations of farmers, saying that they are looking up to the government to render them the necessary support.
He says that cooperatives are also incurring high operations expenses of hiring offices, storage facilities, transport and remuneration of support supervising staff, indicating that they can hardly meet the needs of their members.
Sserwadda prefers that besides capitalizing on organized cooperative societies and unions, the government should also tighten its grip on unregistered coffee brokers, whom he says are responsible for harvesting unripe coffee beans and the recurrent thefts on farmers’ plantations.
Francis Mwebesa, the Minister of Trade Industry and Cooperative says the government is in the final stages of re-establishing an apex Cooperatives Bank whose major role will be to capitalize farmers’ unions and other mid-sized enterprises, that are still struggling to access affordable credit to smoothly run their businesses.
In the meantime, he has advised leaders of farmers’ cooperative unions to take advantage of the government credit facilities such as the Agriculture Credit Facility, the Youth Venture Capital Fund, Uganda Development Bank, that are not yet fully utilized as they wait for the considered lasting intervention still at its early stage.
******
URN
