Low sugarcane prices worry NRM flag-bearers in Busoga

POLITICS

The flag-bearers of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party for the parliamentary and district positions in the Busoga subregion are worried that the fluctuating sugarcane prices and poor state of the roads could undermine the party's support. 

The flag-bearers voiced their concern during a meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga on Saturday. The meeting was for the launch of the NRM manifesto and campaign for their presidential candidate President Yoweri Museveni. 

The function took place at the Jinja city council main hall Stephen Kisa, of Luuka South Constituency, said the demand for the sugarcane had gone down, rendering majority of the farmers stuck with sugarcane in their gardens.

Kisa added that securing permits for supplying sugar millers was also another challenge and middlemen had turned it into a business to cheat the growers. "This business has turned into misery for our farmers who have invested a lot in it. 

The returns are meagre, they feel government is responsible for not helping them out and, as a result, they don't want to listen to us," Kisa said. A tonne of sugarcane recently dropped to sh99,000 from sh104,000. It was previously at sh110,000. 

Kadaga said this has been an outstanding issue in the region for the last three years, but said they were coming up with sustainable measures to address the challenge.

Kadaga said plans were underway to construct an indigenous sugar factory at Butansi in Kamuli district and another Busoga sugar factory at a place yet to be agreed on. "We asked the agriculture ministry to include this issue in its budget because we agreed that Busoga needs its own sugar processing factory," she said. 

Esther Mbayo, the Minister of the Presidency, clarified that President Yoweri Museveni had instructed the Prime minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, to convene a stakeholder meeting involving the National Planning Authority and the finance ministry.

 Mbayo said the meeting is aimed at conducting a feasibility study and identifying where the proposed factory would be constructed and how much it would cost. Mbayo, who is the Luuka Woman MP, assured farmers that Museveni was also in talks with Tanzania and Kenya, to ensure that the surplus sugar is exported.

Kadaga also said farmers could reap big from sugarcane if they were able to make cane juice, ethanol, syrup, industrial sugar and toilet paper, among others. 

Mbayo said the President was "not being felt in the communities" due to lack of his T-shirts and posters. Kadaga said: "Officials at the secretariat argued that the posters would be issued ahead of Museveni's visit in Busoga. I had to struggle to get what I have delivered today," she said.