Ugandan leader urges Africa to boost coffee value
Sunday, 17 February 2008
KAMPALA, Feb 16 (Reuters): Uganda's president called yesterday for African coffee producers to process their own beans into finished products in order to increase profits.
Farmers on the continent have long complained about disparities between the local prices they get and the high prices their beans command once they have been exported.
Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, who often urges Africans to add value to raw materials before they are shipped overseas, made the call at a meeting of the regional Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA).
"When they were taking me around (the coffee exhibition), I told them: 'Don't lecture me on coffee growing. I grow coffee. What I want to hear is value addition.
Farmers on the continent have long complained about disparities between the local prices they get and the high prices their beans command once they have been exported.
Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, who often urges Africans to add value to raw materials before they are shipped overseas, made the call at a meeting of the regional Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA).
"When they were taking me around (the coffee exhibition), I told them: 'Don't lecture me on coffee growing. I grow coffee. What I want to hear is value addition.