EU Deforestation Regulation Raises Anxiety Amongst East African Small holder Coffee Farmers

The EU's new deforestation regulation (EUDR) seeks to ensure that seven commodity products—soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee and rubber, all of which are major drivers of deforestation—will no longer be sold in the EU if sourced from areas affected by deforestation or forest degradation practices. Operators and large traders will need to demonstrate origin, including geo coordinates in an auditable manner, to prove the product/commodity is deforestation free.

A key area of contention is how the EUDR will be implemented. As part of this regulation, the European Commission will create a three-tier benchmarking system to categorize commodity-producing countries and regions as low, standard, or high risk. The system will allow regulators to focus checks on products from high-risk countries, and allow operators to conduct simplified due diligence for products from low-risk countries. ‘However, it seems that the EU is oblivious to the potential consequences of these labels on the affected countries’ reputations. Many are concerned about being categorized as “high-risk”, which could discourage importers from buying coffee.’ notes Coffee Intelligence.

‘The need to prepare for the imminent enforcement of the EUDR and to demonstrate that the provenance of coffee from small scale farmers in East Africa is deforestation-free, is going to be taxing for coffee supply chain actors before entering the EU’, notes Kimbowa Richard, Chairman of INFORSE East Africa. In the meantime, climate change impacts that are pushing coffee farmers into fragile and in ‘more productive’ farmlands in coffee growing areas have been documented for both Robusta and Arabica coffee species. So, how will implementation of the EUDR be, given the structural bottlenecks and historical factors related to absence of property rights for many remote areas where small holder poor farmers are located, given that satellite imagery will need to be supplemented with field realities? How will climate change and the insatiable demand for fuel wood be factored in? How far are the coffee exporting countries ready in terms of facilitating provision of data, to be in line with the EUDR requirements for the coffee supply chain? To what extent are their agricultural extension set ups up to speed to support farmers, exporters and cooperatives to comply with the EUDR?

The stringent requirement of this legislation is of particular concern. For instance, aerial or satellite photography must be provided for every parcel of land used for coffee production. These images must demonstrate no deforestation has taken place and need to be submitted with each trade – or else the entire container can be rejected. In effect, many exporters feel the practicalities of mapping small farms and digitizing farm biodata to enhance sustainable coffee traceability to secure supply of accurate data on an ongoing basis as required under the law, will be very complex and quite costly.

Read the full article from the East African Suswatch INFORSE East Africa E bulletin (February 2024) from here