Fires razes Kinyara sugar plantations
Mr Kirunda Magoola, the Kinyara Sugar Ltd's corporate communications manager at a burnt sugar plantation at Kinyara sugar factory in Masindi District. COURTESY PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The Masindi-based sugar factory crashes 4,000 tons of cane per day.
The out growers supply 64% of the raw cane that is crashed daily. Kinyara has a nucleus sugar estate covering 8,500 hectares. However the 6,015 farmers who are under the Masindi sugar cane Growers Association Ltd (MSGAL) have over 20,000 hectares of sugar cane.
During the 2016/2017 financial year, MSGAL says its members supplied over 1 million tons of cane to Kinyara Sugar factory.
- According to the factory and the MSGAL Board, the farmers earned over Shs 128 billion much as about 40% was deducted from them in form of taxes, harvesting, and transportation of cane and meeting costs of other services.
Fire has gutted Kinyara sugar plantations in Masindi District.
“Over 15 hectares of our nucleus (sugar cane) estate has been burnt by fire,” said Mr Kirunda Magoola, the Kinyara Sugar Ltd’s corporate communications manager.
By press time, Police and Kinyara Sugar factory workers were in the field extinguishing the fire.
One of the burnt fields had cane of about 14 months while another had cane of about six months.
Since late December, fires have been destroying sugar plantations of Kinyara Sugar Ltd owned by its out growers.
The factory and its out growers have so far lost about 270 hectares of cane. The factory estimates the lost cane to be worth Shs 3.2 billion. Each hectare yields about 80 tons.
Each ton is bought by the factory at Shs 150,000.
The sugar factor suspects the fires to be a result of arsonists.
“These fires are not naturally occurring. They are a result of arson and malice,” Magoola said.
He said some people drop lit cigarettes in the fields which spark off fires.
“There are also cases where sacked or disgruntled workers or contractors may set the fields ablaze,” he added.
“There are also illicit dealers in cane who are buying burnt cane from our farmers and transporting it to Kampala and Busoga” Magoola alleged.
The Masindi District chairperson Mr Cosmas Byaruhanga has condemned cases of arson and bush burning that have resulted into cane plantations being burnt.
To counter the vice, the district authorities passed a fire ordinance and conducted sensitization outreaches for communities to prevent unnecessary fires.
The Masindi Resident District Commissioner (RDC), Mr Godfrey Nyakahuma said security agencies have increased on surveillance to detect and prevent criminals involved in arson and sabotage of investors.
Arson contravenes section 327 of the Penal Code Act. Every dry season, Masindi suffers fires that affect farmers, livelihoods, environment and business.
According to the factory, in the last four dry seasons, about 8,282 hectares of cane have been burnt by unplanned, accidental and arsonists.
Kinyara Sugar Ltd has over 6,000 farmers who are under the Masindi sugar cane Growers Association Ltd (MSGAL).
