President Museveni has challenged African leaders to add value to raw materials to increase jobs and wealth creation
He says many jobs are lost as African countries continue to export unprocessed goods at a low cost which benefits countries where these products are exported.
Museveni noted that the said business model is a typical global parasitic system where European countries take from Africans and later sell their products at a higher cost.
He is concerned that Africa only gets $2.4 billion out of the global $460 billion value of coffee.
“We also need to sensitise our partners in the countries that have been buying our raw materials at semi-slave prices, that their economics is defective,” Museveni said.
“What will the USA, Europe or Asia lose if Africa sells added-value coffee to them instead of the raw-material form and earn more money?” he asked.
Museveni made the remarks at the opening of the G25 Africa coffee summit, where African leaders have converged to discuss value addition to African coffee.
He urged fellow leaders to make sure that coffee is consumed both as a beverage and a stimulus product.
