By Bernard Gitau
Coffee farmers and exporters can now breathe a sigh of relief after the European Union deferred the implementation of its deforestation regulations.
Cooperatives Principal Secretary Patrick Kilemi welcomed the decision to delay the rules for a year, noting that the extension provides Kenya with the necessary time to ensure full compliance.
The regulation, known as the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), mandates that companies must prove their products are sourced from land where deforestation has not occurred since 2020.
Kilemi also highlighted that the government has formed an inter-ministerial team, bringing together the Ministry of ICT, Agriculture, and other relevant departments, to coordinate efforts and ensure compliance with the new rules.
“As a country, we are very keen in complying with EUDR and through the work we did with Kenya Integrated Agricultural Management Information System (KIAMIS) mapping our farmers, we will be able to Geo-locate them to demonstrate to EU and the whole world our coffee is not from deforested zones,” said Kilemi.
EUDR dictates that companies must provide a due diligence statement and “verifiable” information, such as satellite images of the plots where the coffee was grown or face large fines.
The EUDR applies to coffee, cocoa, soy, palm oil, wood, rubber, and cattle.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimates that 420 million hectares of forest — an area larger than the EU — were lost to deforestation between 1990 and 2020, representing around 10 percent of global deforestation.
The New Kenya Planters Cooperative Union (NKPC) Managing Director Timothy Mirugi decried decreasing coffee production as a result of climate change.
“Coffee farming is getting hit due to climate change with increased pests and diseases, light coffee beans due to lack of rainfall and irregular early or main crop due to coffee bushes being stressed,” he said.
Mirugi urged farmers to embrace the greening campaign by the national government of planting 15 billion trees by 2032, by planting more coffee bushes which will increase production and also tree cover.
On his part, the PS said the country will engage the European Union to classify coffee bushes as decarbonizers.
“Coffee bushes are like other trees hence should be classified to help farmers benefit from carbon credit money,” he said.
The deforestation rules were adopted by Parliament on 19 April 2023, aimed to fight climate change and biodiversity loss by preventing the deforestation related to EU consumption of products from cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soya, wood, rubber, charcoal and printed paper.
Already in force since 29 June 2023, its provisions were to be applied by companies from 30 December 2024.
But it has been postponed for a year in response to concerns raised by EU member states, non-EU countries, traders and operators that they would not be able to fully comply with the rules if applied as of the end of 2024.
Large operators and traders would have to respect the obligations stemming from this regulation as of 30 December 2025, whereas micro- and small enterprises would have until 30 June 2026.
This additional time would help operators worldwide implement the rules smoothly from the start without undermining the objectives of the law.
Parliament also adopted other amendments proposed by the political groups, including the creation of a new category of countries posing “no risk” on deforestation in addition to the existing three categories of “low”, “standard” and “high” risk.
Countries classified as “no risk”, with stable or increasing forest area development, would face significantly less stringent requirements as there is a negligible or non-existent risk of deforestation.
The Commission must finalise a country benchmarking system by 30 June 2025.
