OPINION: Support President Museveni To Develop Capacity Of Small Sugar Farmers

By Faruk Kirunda

Contention over the Sugar Bill, 2016 which President Yoweri Museveni declined to assent to in March and which he returned to Parliament was not unforeseen. Few people understand the intricacies of the sugar industry. In comparison, President Museveni is miles ahead in perceiving its potential to make or break an economy, sugar being a highly consumed commodity-with many applications beyond drinking it in tea, as many think.

Readers should recall in 2011 when sugar prices shot through the roof and the public cried out; politicians took the chance to advocate their interests around it, unaware that the problem was not nonchalance of Government but proper regulation of the industry, placing of various stakeholders in the value chain and the need to protect established manufacturers to drive their production up which would force prices down.

The gap at the time was plugged by importing from Brazil and Kenya. However, that should have been a short term intervention.

Long term planning was aimed at over producing, feeding the local market and exporting the rest. That is how it came to be that Museveni identified and supported big investors like Ms. Amina Hersi Morghe of Atiak Sugar Factory Limited (ASFL). The Bill, when it was introduced, was intended to provide a legal framework to regulate the industry so as to meet targets of production and guarantee equitable benefit for stakeholders.

Busoga being a sugar producing powerhouse, all the weight of the debate has shifted there and quickly taken on a political tone. But the basic thing remains; if we don’t do the correct thing, the industry will crash.

President Museveni is not a person who jumps into something he has not studied deeply. On the sugar Bill, his standpoint is well informed and just. It should be supported. While he may appear as if he is favoring the big millers, he is only paving the way for small farmers to develop their capacity and bargaining power to become the big millers of tomorrow.

The newly concerned “stakeholders” should play a more memorably constructive role by investigating the challenges farmers face and find solutions to those challenges. From my research and observations, the process of growing and selling sugarcane is not simple. All stages are capital/labour intensive. There is hiring land, preparing the land through root picking, surveying, bush clearing, anthill removal, pesticides, ploughing (twice), harrowing, ridging; purchase of seed cane, transportation, loading and planting; labour (weeding, gap feeling); irrigation, insurance against fire, stable shaving, trash lining, fire line management and security (guard services).

After harvesting, there are costs for loading and transport; add supervision and management costs, interest on bank loans. It costs a minimum of Shs15, 864, 200 to cultivate one acre (four times-planting, first, second and third ratoons). Gross income is Shs19, 456,000, leaving a profit margin of Shs3, 591, 800. Miscellaneous costs and brokerage costs are not included. Unlike other crops, sugarcane requires a lot of patience as it takes 40 months to mature to fully mature. Because of the long wait, some farmers descend on their crop at 12 or 13 months. The consequence of this rush is poor quantities of harvest; instead of five lorry loads at full maturity, they get only two or three.

Farmers need a special buffer fund to cushion them as they wait for their crop to reach full maturity. The price of fertilizers (and other inputs) needs to be cut and the quality improved. One bag is at Shs130, 000.

Farmers need tractors for tilling land, ferrying cane and other utilities on a shamba. According to concept note drafted to seek partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture by the chairman of Busoga Sugarcane Growers Association (BSGA), Mr. Budhugo Isa, it has been observed that 60% of the farmers make losses at the time of harvesting when they depend on unreliable private transporters who at times do not turn up to ferry the crop leaving it to wither in the gardens.  Additional focus should be directed to addressing the challenge of infrastructure development to improve community roads.

President Museveni has prioritized modernization of national roads to ease transportation of inputs, produce and services; local leaders should assist on community roads crisscrossing sugarcane zones.

Next, they should form a strong lobby to bargain for better prices in the market. The relationship with big millers depends on how strongly leaders back the farmers. Zoning or ring fencing a production area for big mills is not the problem. Nobody is prohibited from growing cane. The problem is how smallholder farmers can get a good price for their produce, on top of being organized towards a goal of establishing their own mills. As they expand, they are protected in their own exclusive production zones.

Currently there is a glaring shortfall in production which the total strength of the big millers is not satisfying because they are operating below capacity. Kakira Sugar Works has a capacity of 2.5million tones per year but in financial year 2018/2019 they produced 1.57million tones; Mayuge Sugar Mills is producing 250,000tonnes per year yet optimally it should produce 2.5million tones. For financial year 2019/2020, farmers are lined up to supply 4million tones of cane to Madhvani (Kakira). This means that the big millers need to boost their production exponentially to take up this excess crop. That is only possible when they are supported. This position should be clearly explained and understood by all concerned parties.

But besides sugarcane, the people should be guided to take up alternative opportunities. BSGA has 9,000 members. Busoga has a population of 3.7million. Not everybody will squeeze into the sugarcane economy. And the 9,000 farmers don’t all own their shambas; some sold them off to tycoons. There should be a plan to engage them in other forms of production. If the cost of investment in sugarcane growing is high and the waiting period for harvesting is long, there are alternatives that promise greater and faster returns on investment.

That is where focus should be!

The author is a Private Secretary to H.E the President in Charge of Media Management

Contact: kirundaf2@yahoo.com

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