Government last year embarked on the process to regulate the sugar industry in the country. The process began with the tabling of the Sugar Amendment Bill, 2023, on December 5.
The Bill which has since caused mixed reactions among sugarcane farmers in Busoga and across the country, provides for the Uganda Sugar Industry Stakeholder Council to replace and take on the responsibilities of the Sugar Board created by the Sugar Act 2020 and regulate the sugar industry in the country.
The Sugar Industry Stakeholder Council according to the Bill would comprise a chairperson, four representatives of sugarcane growers and four representatives of sugarcane millers. Others are permanent secretaries or representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance and Trade who will not have rights to vote.
Government will only provide regulatory oversight over the activities of the council through a few representatives on the council and technical officers at the Secretariat of the council.
The Bill also seeks to amend the formula to determine sugarcane prices sold to millers which farmers argue that prices should be determined by the forces of demand and supply.
Busoga petitions: In a petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, sugarcane farmers in Busoga outlined irritating challenges experienced in the industry, citing low cane prices and monopoly of market by millers, among others.
The current price of the crop is UGX240 per kilogram after farmers investing in the expenses of weeding for over 18 months, harvesting, loading and transporting it to the gates of the millers. Farmers underscored those expenses and deductions made by the millers, the harvested crop is sold at approximately UGX150.
“Millers have misled Parliament and the entire country to wrongly believe that the price of sugarcane is too high yet we think it is still very low and unfair to the farmers,” they said in a petition. Whereas sugar is the most obvious and known product of cane crop, more profitable products such as ethanol, industrial sugar, electricity, molasses, sweets and paper among others are derived from the sugarcane.
Farmers, therefore, suggest that the potential solution to the cane price fluctuation would be the increase of millers within cane growing regions which is, however, curtailed by the National Sugar Policy of 2010, prohibiting the establishment of mills within a 25km radius from the existing mill.
“The unfairness that comes with the limit of 25km radius is that there is no competition within that radius. The farmers within that circle are left at the mercy of the millers who determine everything including; The price of the cane, who will be permitted to harvest, what deductions are to be made off the farmer’s account, when to pay, and which Bank they should use,” farmers stated, describing it as a modern-day slavery.
Farmers say that weigh bridges set up in different villages have eliminated monopoly of the market, creating a stiff competition in the field. This has caused cancer prices rise from UGX70,000 to the current UGX240,000 per tone which is still low compared to the farmers’ input.
It is important to note that sugarcane millers under their umbrella body of Uganda Sugarcane Manufacturers Association in July 2023, petitioned the parliamentary committee on Trade, Tourism and Industry, highlighting that weigh bridges should be removed.
Millers argued that weigh bridges which is apparently an advantage to farmers, created scarcity, and rised prices of Sugarcane in the region which described as a huge challenge.
However, farmers decry the National Sugar Policy which they say has placed the whole economy of the cane growing communities into the hands of millers. Farmers also allege that millers are determined to milk the ordinary farmer to the last drop.
Placed in wrong hands: Unlike other farmers in the country, sugarcane farmers and dealers allege they have been unfairly placed in the wrong hands. They are advocating placement in the ministry of Agriculture like their colleagues in coffee, cotton, tobacco, tea, diary, poultry and other agricultural products.
Farmers suggest it would be fair for farmers to have a stake in the composition of the sugar stakeholder council and advocate for seven representatives.
The sugarcane crop should be left to the forces of demand and supply like all crops as opposed to having prices levied by the council through percentages and fractions. If the idea of collective bargaining, farmers believe can achieve it through their Farmers’ cooperatives.
The council being not a statutory body, the minister should not exercise the powers to appoint the chairperson or members of the council. That the chairperson may be elected by an electoral college of Farmers’ and millers’ representatives.
