Assessing coffee farmers’ awareness of and compliance readiness with European Union Deforestation Regulation ( EUDR) requirements

Abstract

The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires coffee entering the European Union to be produced on land not deforested after 31 December 2020, to come from geo-mapped plots, to comply with the laws of the producing country and to be traceable. This study assessed coffee farmers' awareness of knowledge about and compliance readiness with EUDR requirements, and the factors influencing these outcomes, using data from 210 randomly selected coffee farmers in Kyesiiga, Kabonera and Mukungwe Sub-counties, Masaka District. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, tests of proportions, pairwise correlations and probit regression models. The results show that 75 per cent of the farmers had heard of the EUDR. Of these, 92 per cent knew that coffee exported to the European Union must be deforestation free, but only 56 per cent knew that the EUDR is itself a regulation on deforestation-free products and only 19 per cent had been trained on its requirements, while 76 per cent of those asked knew that the use of child labour affects compliance. Regarding compliance, 53 per cent of the farmers who had heard of the EUDR had their coffee gardens geo-mapped, while 27 per cent of households were using child labour. Knowledge that the EUDR is a deforestation-free regulation increased with access to extension services, EUDR training, above-average coffee yield and dependence on coffee income. Households using child labour were 51 percentage points less likely to know that it affects compliance. Geo-mapping was more likely among farmers using hired permanent labour and among men, with women largely left out (28 per cent of women against 58 per cent of men had mapped gardens). Child labour was concentrated on small, low-output farms that relied on family labour. Knowledge that child labour affects compliance was associated with a 60-percentage point lower probability of using child labour and a 28-percentage point higher probability of geo-mapping, whereas knowledge of the deforestation-free requirement was unrelated to either practice. The study concludes that many farmers are aware of the EUDR but far fewer understand what it requires, and that compliance readiness depends more on farm size, labour organisation and the reach of support services than on general awareness. It recommends that EUDR sensitisation be taken to rural areas and targeted at women, small-scale farmers and farmers whose gardens are not yet geo-mapped, together with publicly supported geo-mapping for small farms and labour-saving and productivity-enhancing interventions to reduce child labour. Keywords: European Union Deforestation Regulation; awareness; compliance readiness; smallholder coffee farmers; geo-mapping; child labour; probit model; Uganda