EU gives coffee exporter Uganda $43 mln to help it comply with forest policy

KAMPALA, April 10 (Reuters) – The EU has given Uganda a 40 million euro ($43 million) grant to help Africa’s largest coffee exporter comply with a new EU policy that bars imports of commodities whose production resulted from forest destruction, the Ugandan presidency said.

The grant was announced by Virginijus Sinkevicius, EU commissioner for environment, oceans and fisheries, as he paid a visit to President Yoweri Museveni, according to a statement sent by the president’s office late on Tuesday.

Uganda’s forest cover plummeted from 24% of the country’s total area in 1990 to 9% in 2015 due to rampant cutting of trees to feed soaring demand for cropland and wood fuel but aggressive reforestation has since reversed some of the losses. ($1 = 0.9218 euros) (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland and Christopher Cushing)

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