Sugar Bill leaves Busoga farmers with bitter taste

JINJA. Sugarcane farmers in Busoga Sub-region have protested amendments to the Sugar Bill (2016), saying it only benefits the millers.
Under the Bill, the minimum prices will be set by multiplying the weight (in tonnes) of sugarcane by the amount of sugar to be squeezed out of every 100 tonnes times 50 per cent.
The 50 per cent is to compensate the outgrowers for the additional derivatives that millers extract from sugar such as molasses, ethanol and bagasse for power generation. Mr Michael Nyende, a sugarcane grower, who is also the Speaker of Jinja District, said: “Factories like Kakira Sugar Works get a lot of money from sugarcane by-products.”
“They remove ethanol which they sell to government at very high prices, make books, sweets, fertilizers and sugar which are sold in different shops.
“When they buy sugarcane from you, they deduct 10 per cent of the waste yet they crush everything and waste nothing. I don’t agree with the formula because the prices will continue to reduce from the current Shs128,000 per tonne,’’ he said.
The spokesperson Busoga Sugarcane Outgrowers Association, Mr Godfrey Naitema, also said the percentage should be increased from 50 to 70 per cent so that they can also enjoy enough profits.
The Deputy General Manager Kakira Sugar Limited, Mr Kenneth Barungi, said the 70 per cent farmers are clamouring unless they deliver good quality sugarcane.
“You can pay for a commodity when the quality is good but most sugarcane being sold by the outgrowers is immature which affects the quality of the sugar,’’ he said.
Key amendments in the Sugar Bill (2016) include deleting of Clause 22 , which had provided that the Sugar Board would not license more than one miller in an area within a radius of 25 kilometres.
Mr Barungi fears this will cause the collapse of the sugar industry by bringing about competition for sugarcane among the same outrowers.