President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has expressed commitment to add value in coffee so that, instead of earning USD 2.5 per kilogram, Uganda will achieve USD 25-40 per kilogram and also create more jobs for our people in the process.
During the State of the Nation address on Thursday, November 7, 2024, President Museveni condemned people criticizing the merger of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) with the Ministry of Agriculture.
The President said that research scientists at Kawanda, Kituza, and Serere and the leaders have been working for low salaries for most of this time while people at UCDA were being paid high salaries.
“It’s those under NARO who truly support the development and growth of our cash crops, not UCDA, whose employees were receiving high salaries while scientists, who work just as hard, were earning very little,” President Museveni said.
He referred to receiving high salaries as acts of indiscipline, lack of patriotism, possible corruption, and criminality of some actors.
President Museveni also asked Ugandans to get rid of imported clothes, especially second-hand garments, which he often refers to as dead people’s clothes.
He further asked Ugandans to acquire education for a strong potential to generate income and be able to fulfill their basic human needs, which include food, shelter, clothing, transportation (such as vehicles), medicine, and utilities like electricity.
The president added that between 1962 and 1986, Uganda had made so many mistakes that this forced his government to take up tourism, soybean and tobacco cultivation, cotton cultivation, and promoting the copper resource. He said that these helped to boost the country’s economy, and many Ugandans got money they did not have.
The Parliament of Uganda on Wednesday, November 6, 2024, passed the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill 2024, integrating the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) into the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries (MAAIF).
