Uganda’s agricultural exporters face a looming crisis as European Union deforestation regulations threaten to cut off access to markets worth €2.75bn ($3.2bn, or Shs11.5tn) across East Africa, with the country’s crucial coffee sector particularly vulnerable.
The EU Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect on 30 December for large and medium-sized companies, requires exporters to provide verifiable proof of the legal origin of their products and to make their entire supply chain transparent. However, only 15 per cent of East African agribusinesses fully understand the incoming requirements, according to a 2024 Danish Industry Report.
Coffee, Uganda’s second most valuable export commodity, is particularly vulnerable. The EU absorbs over 60 per cent of East African Community coffee exports, making access to the European market essential for producers in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Burundi.
The regulations extend beyond coffee to cocoa, tea, cereals, horticulture, oil crops, rubber and timber — all sectors where Uganda competes for premium European buyers who now demand digital traceability systems that most smallholders lack.
“Traceability enables competitiveness, market access and financial inclusion,” said Susan Atyang, regional programme manager at the Agricultural Business Initiative, speaking this week at a webinar hosted by Koltiva, the Swiss agritech company. She added that traceability has evolved from being a technical requirement to “the minimum for staying relevant in Europe’s tightening agricultural markets”.
The challenge is particularly acute for Uganda, where more than 75 per cent of agriculture depends on smallholder farmers, many of whom lack the formal land documentation required for geolocation verification. With internet penetration in the region standing at just 28.5 per cent — less than half the global average — and 80 per cent of smallholders living below the poverty line, the cost of compliance cannot realistically fall on producers alone.
The Danish Industry Report found that 65 per cent of companies need clearer guidance on compliance, 57 per cent require practical frameworks, and 52 per cent lack access to digital tools. According to the Guardian, uncertainty has already prompted some EU buyers to scale back purchases from East African suppliers where smallholder-dominated chains complicate verification.
Industry experts argue that addressing misconceptions about digital traceability is as important as deploying the technology itself. “You cannot achieve traceability without farmer empowerment,” said Waithera Muriithi, strategy and innovation lead at Café Africa Uganda. “The real challenge is not ability, it is awareness. When farmers understand the benefits, adoption accelerates.”
Café Africa is coordinating national efforts to streamline compliance across the country, including EUDR task forces and the development of a national data warehouse.
The cost burden remains contentious. “There is no sustainability without traceability—and the demand will only keep increasing,” said Fanny Butler, Koltiva’s senior head of markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She emphasised that shared-cost arrangements between buyers, suppliers, and development partners are “the only realistic way to scale compliance in rural, smallholder-dominated regions”.
This model — where buyers subsidise onboarding, suppliers maintain data quality, and development partners co-finance mapping — is gaining traction as exporters recognise that joint investment is essential for navigating complex agricultural landscapes.
The stakes extend beyond immediate market access. East Africa is projected to contribute 19 per cent of additional global agricultural production over the next decade, according to the OECD and FAO. But realising this potential depends on how quickly the region closes its compliance gap.
Manfred Borer, chief executive of Koltiva, presented the challenge in stark terms: “East Africa has the resources, the productive ecosystems and the global demand. What it needs now is synchronised readiness. Traceability is no longer a niche initiative. It is the price of participating in the world’s most valuable markets.”
The message for Uganda’s exporters is clear: those who implement digital traceability systems early will secure premium market access, while those who delay risk being locked out of lucrative European markets entirely. With less than three weeks until the regulations take effect, time is running out.
