Farmers and sugarcane dealers in the Busoga sub-region are miserably crying over the deduction of the cane price. Reports from the sugar mills indicate that a tone now is valued for shs143,000.
Madhvani sugar factory is the latest to deduct the price after Mayuge, Kaliro, and Kamuli factories. These have reportedly disappointed farmers after the fluctuation rapidly reduced from shs165,000 to shs143,000 per tone.
Mr Godfrey Naitema, one of the leaders of Sugarcane farmers in Busoga, reveals the disappointment, expressing the agony of the local outgrowers.
Naitema informed Busoga Today that they [farmers] are highly affected by the disturbing decisions made by the mills, expressing dissatisfactions over the matter that has caused setbacks in the sugarcane industries.
“I want to inform you the millers that the price you are buying our sugarcane doesn’t take us anywhere. The 143,000 shillings can never sustain the farmer and will not sustain the sugar industry in the country,” says Mr Naitema.
The farmer argues that the current price of the cane is unfair and needs an urgent address. He emphasises that the investment made towards the growth of the cane crop is higher than the “unfair” price of the harvested crop.
“The investment into sugarcane plantations is really high. The farmer is not earning anything currently. If we go further with this situation, I really don’t know how the local farmer will be,” he wondered.
Naitema stated that; “Unless the sugarcane farmer is only being targeted out of the industry, the cane price should be increased for everyone to enjoy and live a sustainable life.”
He suggested that the price should be reviewed back to at least shs170,000 since there are no surpluses of the cane in the community.
Last year, amidst parliamentary debates of the Sugar Bill 2023, the cane price was at shs240,000 at almost all the factories. This followed a significant setback in the industry where the price was lowered to shs50,000 per full-capacity lorry, which left plantations cleared as farmers couldn’t earn anything.
