Farmers give millers two weeks to increase sugarcane prices
A truck loaded with sugarcane in Jinja City. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- The sugarcane farmers unanimously said they were not convinced with the millers’ argument that “importation of the sweetener is keeping theirs in stores without a market, thus reducing the price of sugarcane.”
Sugarcane farmers in Uganda have given millers two weeks to increase the price of raw cane lest they cut their supply.
Currently, the price of sugarcane costs Shs180, 000 per ton, down from Shs240, 000 in December.
The farmers reached the conclusion during a meeting with the millers at Jinja agricultural showground. The meeting was attended by two delegates from each sugarcane-growing districts.
The sugarcane farmers unanimously said they were not convinced with the millers’ argument that “importation of the sweetener is keeping theirs in stores without a market, thus reducing the price of sugarcane.”
The interim chairperson of Uganda Sugarcane Growers Association Isa Budhugo said they decided to temporarily halt supplying raw cane to the millers to give them room to sell their alleged surplus sugar which has compelled them to reduce their prices to the farmers.
“We have resolved to stop supplying sugarcane to the millers on March 15, to allow them sell what they have in their stores, after which we shall normalise the situation and resume supply,” he said following the decision taken last Wednesday.
According to Budhugo, during these 15 days, they will be engaging the millers to see whether they will come to a conclusion on the prices for the sugarcane before making a final decision.
Budhugo says farmers want a ton of sugarcane to be bought at Shs240,000 because “this is slightly above the Shs210,000 that they use to produce a tonne of sugarcane.”
Busoga Sugarcane Out Growers Cooperative Union general secretary Aaron Dickson Mande said upon the expiry of the ultimatum, there will be checkpoints to arrest any farmer ferrying sugarcane to factories.
“This time, we shall ensure that all the errant ones are arrested for our resolution to succeed,’’ Mande said.
Mande decried millers taking sugarcane farmers “for granted by buying the cane at any price they wish- in total disregard of the costs farmers incur in producing the cane.”
Mayuge Sugarcane Out Growers Association chairperson Patrick Mudungu emphasized that farmers are not after fighting the millers but looking for equal benefits.
