African smallholder farmers risk losing access to international markets because of incomplete compliance records, even when they have not engaged in deforestation, Herbert Kafeero, Deputy Executive Director of the Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), has warned.
Speaking during a webinar titled Putting Farmers First, Kafeero said the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) must be implemented in a way that protects forests without unfairly excluding farmers whose livelihoods depend on agricultural exports.
He emphasised that an inability to provide the required documentation should not automatically be treated as evidence of environmental wrongdoing.
“Being unable to prove compliance is not the same as committing an environmental violation,” Kafeero said, highlighting the risks facing farmers who lack complete farm records or the technical capacity to meet increasingly demanding market requirements.
The EUDR introduces requirements intended to ensure that certain commodities entering or leaving the European Union are not linked to deforestation. The regulation covers cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, as well as specified products derived from them.
For African countries, the rules are particularly significant for smallholder producers who supply export markets but may face difficulties documenting the origin of their produce and demonstrating that it meets the required standards.
Kafeero said farmers must understand what information is collected through traceability systems, why it is required and how it will be used. They should also be able to access their records, correct inaccurate information and challenge the misuse of their personal or farm data.
He warned that poorly designed compliance systems could create barriers for farmers who have neither the resources nor the digital tools to maintain detailed records.
“ We should not have to choose between protecting forests and protecting livelihoods. We can and must do both,” Kafeero said.
He called for effective traceability systems, enforceable data protection safeguards and a fair distribution of compliance responsibilities among farmers, exporters, buyers and other actors in agricultural supply chains.
The concerns reflect a broader challenge for African agricultural exporters: meeting international environmental standards without transferring the financial and administrative burden disproportionately to smallholder farmers.
For coffee-producing countries such as Uganda, continued access to the European market is important for export earnings and rural incomes. Farmers who cannot satisfy documentation requirements could face additional costs, delays or difficulties selling their produce through established supply chains.
Kafeero said African countries should focus not only on meeting emerging market requirements but also on developing systems that reflect the realities of the farmers who produce the commodities.
The central challenge, he argued, is to ensure that environmental protection and farmers’ rights reinforce each other rather than become competing objectives.
