Uganda chillies exports secure six months EU waiver

April 9, 2019 in Business, Companies, Land & Agriculture, Trade & Industry by Editor

Exports of Ugandan chillies to the European Union have received a temporary reprieve after a make or break inspection mission was put off until November 2019.

James Kanyinje, the proprietor of fresh produce export company KK Foods says postponement of the inspection follows a recent meeting between EU representatives and officials from the Ugandan ministry of agriculture during which it was agreed to give authorities to map and implement a strategy for dealing with the quality issues that have been detected in Ugandan chillies.

In a March 20, 2019 letter to Dr. Paul Mwambu, the National Plant Protection Officer in the ministry of agriculture, Mr. Attilio Pacific, the EU Delegation’s ambassador to Uganda, drew attention to several letters and RASEFF and EURIPHYT notifications that reported several instances of interceptions of Thaumatotibia leucotreta, also known as false codling moth, found in consignments of Rosa, Capsicum and Annonamurieata, originating from Uganda destined to the EU Member states.

According to Pacific’s letter, there had been 55 interceptions as of February 1, 2019. “Fourty involved Capsicum (botanical name for chillies) 9 Rosa, and 6 in Annona muricata, which is the highest among all EU trading partners. The EU  Member States and the Commission consider this  threat as requiring possible safeguard measures in case the situation cannot be assessed as under control,” the ambassador cautions.

256BN has been told that Uganda has proposed a comprehensive response to the issues which includes a revamp of support services across the entire chillies value chain. EU inspectors will then visit the country in November to assess the effectiveness of whatever interventions would have been put in place.