Uganda bans charcoal exports to Kenya -VIDEO
Friday April 06 2018
Uganda has banned the export of charcoal to Kenya in an effort to protect its forests.
Hussein Kato Matanda, the resident district commissioner in Busia, Uganda, told traders at the border town that the sale of charcoal to Kenya is now illegal.
A month-long ban on charcoal burning in neighbouring Kenya has caused an acute shortage of the commodity in the country that has seen a spike in prices.
At the Ugandan border town, cross-border business has since boomed with some market traders abandoning their craft for the charcoal trade.
Godfrey Oundo Ongwabe, the national cross-border trade chairperson, told NTV Uganda that traders were now bringing charcoal from as far northern and western Uganda.
In Busia, charcoal prices have more than double from Ush35,000 ($10) to Ush80,000 ($22) per sack in just one week, NTV reported.
Kenya suspended logging in forests for a period of three months citing acute water shortage caused by destruction forest cover.