KAMPALA, Uganda — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has signed the Sugarcane (Amendment) Bill, 2023, into law, emphasizing the need for cooperation between sugar millers and growers to ensure a thriving industry.1
“If you don’t want to kill this industry, you should all cooperate because if you don’t cooperate, the sugar factories will collapse, and once they collapse, even new farmers will have nowhere to sell the sugar,” President Museveni said. “But also, it is not good for the sugar processors, too.”
Parliament passed the bill last month after additional consultations with farmers, millers, and lawmakers from sugarcane-growing regions including Buganda, Busoga, Bunyoro, and Acholi. These consultations addressed contentious issues such as the composition of the industry council, the sugarcane pricing formula, and the funding of council activities.
Before the signing, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, Francis Mwebesa, informed President Museveni that the bill provides for the self-regulation of the Sugar Industry Stakeholders Council, as outlined in the Sugar Act of 2020.
The council will comprise a chairperson, four farmer representatives, three miller representatives, and permanent secretaries or their representatives from the ministries responsible for trade, agriculture, and finance.
“The chairperson will be a person with sufficient knowledge about the sugar industry and selected from millers and farmers representatives on a rotational basis and serve for two years,” Mwebesa said. He added that this rotational system aims to give farmers more representation and prevent any single group from monopolizing the chairperson’s office, fostering cooperation and inclusive decision-making.
A Sugar Development Fund will also be established to finance council activities, with contributions from millers and outgrowers in a 70% to 30% ratio.
During the meeting, President Museveni was informed that sugarcane millers would share proceeds from both sugar and its by-products with farmers.2
“I am now satisfied. The processors indeed get more value from the cane than just sugar. They also get ethanol and electricity. So, I think this is a good formula. I can now sign the law,” Museveni noted.
He advised sugar millers against encouraging small-scale farmers, particularly those with less than four acres of land, to grow sugarcane. Instead, he recommended these farmers focus on the “4-acre model,” which includes one acre each for coffee, fruits, pasture for dairy cows, and food crops. Farmers could also consider raising poultry for eggs, piggery, and fish farming if they are near swamps.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa thanked President Museveni for his guidance on the bill.
“When you presented this bill to Parliament through your minister, we risked in between, and we had issues of contention. And when I called you, you said that you don’t proceed with the bill until you reach consensus, so we had to go back and start on the mediations,” Tayebwa said.
The signing ceremony was attended by Third Deputy Prime Minister Rukia Nakadama, Minister for Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda, Minister of State for Trade (Industry) David Bahati, Members of Parliament from sugarcane-growing areas, and leaders of sugarcane growers’ associations from Buganda, Busoga, and Bunyoro.
