Study reports rising sugarcane production in Bunyoro
The growth of sugarcane growing in Bunyoro has been supported by the extension of sugar factories in the sub-region. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- The shows shows that total cane yield is highest in Bunyoro at 45 metric tonnes per acre, which is almost double Busoga’s 24 metric tonnes and Buganda’s 27 metric tonnes
A study by Makerere University Economic Policy Research Centre indicates that Bunyoro sub-region now leads in sugarcane production.
The study, which examined different parameters, further shows that the total cane yield is highest in Bunyoro at 45 metric tonnes per acre, which is almost double Busoga’s 24 metric tonnes and Buganda’s 27 metric tonnes.
The region also leads in input costs standing at Shs17b compared to Shs92b for Busoga and Shs37b for Buganda.
The study also indicates that Uganda’s sugarcane industry has expanded cane production three-fold (more than 380 percent) over the last two decades, from about 1.5 million tonnes in 2000 to 5.8 million tons in 2020.
“The surge production can be entirely explained by the expansion of land harvested (from approximately 20,000 hectares in 2005 to more than 81,000 hectares in 2020),” the EPRC says, adding that the expansion of mills such as Kinyara Sugar, epically in Bunyoro, “also attracted new outgrower sugarcane cultivators.”
The EPRC study is based on primary data collected through household and community surveys between November and December 2021.
A total of 1,771 households, of which 1,179 were cane growers, and 72 community interviews were conducted from 12 sugarcane-producing districts in there sub-regions of Busoga, Buganda and Bunyoro.
Besides the quantitative surveys, information was collected through focus group discussions and key informant interviews.
Mr Moses Isoko Kalyegera, the commercial officer in charge of local government, said production of sugar in the Bunyoro sub-region has grown due to the increased number of factories in the area including Kiryandongo Sugar, Hoima Sugar and Kinyara.
Kinyara has about 7,300 registered out growers in the region.
Mr Aldon Walukamba, the Kinyara corporate communications officer, said they have invested in a three tier nursery programme to ensure a clean seed mechanism to improve cane yield.
“Agricultural inputs like bio products (fertilisers and pesticides), pest control agents, chemical fertilisers and herbicides are issued on loan basis to the out grower farmers,” he said.
