Coffee farmers in Kenya are in a race against time to get certification that would cushion them from a new European Union (EU) market law banning the sale of goods linked to the destruction of forests starting January 2025.
Under the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), importers of commodities like coffee, cocoa, soy, palm, cattle, timber, and rubber — and products that use them — must prove their goods did not originate from deforested land or face hefty fines.
Failure to acquire a certificate of proof against deforestation could hit Kenyan producers since seven of Kenya’s 10 leading coffee markets are in the EU.
Rainforest Alliance, which is one of the organisations that certify agricultural products, said less than half of Kenya’s coffee is currently certified.
“I think between 30-40 percent of coffee in Kenya is certified. We need to push hard to ensure that uncertified farmers are assisted in complying with the EUDR as the deadline draws near,” said Julius Ng’ang’a, Senior Director for East and Southern Africa at the Rainforest Alliance.
Under the EUDR, the EU will only buy coffee whose sellers have proven it was not grown on land that was deforested after December 31, 2020.
The EUDR requires operators and traders that are not small and medium enterprises to collect geographic coordinates of the plots of land where the commodities were produced.
This documentation will accurately trace the origin of coffee and other agricultural commodities including cattle, cocoa, oil palm, rubber, soya, or wood products.It ensures they do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation.
“The European Union is the most important coffee market for Kenya and if we lose access to that it will be a disaster,” said Mr Ng’ang’a.
Coffee buyers say it is challenging for Kenya’s coffee to meet EUDR because of the fragmentation of coffee growers.
Many farmers still have no information about the new rules, while the cost of compliance is proving high for some, especially smallholder farmers.
“This is a huge challenge because of the fragmentation of the Kenyan coffee farmers and often the local cooperatives have not even heard that from January 25, 2025, we cannot access the European market if we cannot prove that the coffee has not been grown on recently deforested areas,” said Marten Sievers, the regional managing director for leading coffee buyer Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) East Africa.
Mr Sievers added that Kenya needs to move with speed to incentivize coffee growing to enhance the reliability of the supply of the product.
