The EPRC has finalized the development Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) for the sugarcane sub-sector in Uganda with the final report due for early next year. The RIA will form the basis for the amendment of the Sugar Act 2020 and the revision of the 2010 national Sugar Policy – the two regulatory pieces currently governing the sub-sector.
The RIA for sugarcane sub-sector is funded by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. The process involved extensive consultations with all stakeholders at the lower and highest levels in the industry.
“The [current] regulatory environment was done with limited consultations with all the stakeholders in the sugarcane sub-sector,” said EPRC executive director Dr. Sarah N. Ssewanyana. She added that not revisiting it means it might hinder the growth of the sub-sector.
The RIA development process interactions stretched far and wide, reaching farmers, traders, and manufacturers, and responsible ministries – the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives (MTIC) and Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF). There was also an engagement with Members of Parliament on the Committees of Agriculture, Trade, Budget, and Finance among others. The cabinet secretariat has been part and parcel of the RIA development process.
“We have evidence generated by EPRC and the purpose of the regulatory reforms which we agreed upon after several meetings is to improve the regulatory quality of the sub-sector,” Ssewanyana said.
The RIA is expected to form a basis for the amendment of the Sugar Act 2020 and the revision of the 2010 national sugar policy. The Sugarcane Amendment Bill, 2023 was tabled before Parliament this month and discussions about how it finally turns out will form bigger part of the first half of 2024.
In the last three years, the EPRC has researched the sugarcane sub-sector with findings pointing to a broken relationship between millers and out growers.
At least a third of sugarcane out growers (30%) quit farming the crop in 2021 as the environment became untenable – frustrated by the market uncertainties, low prices. The can pricing formula in the Sugar Act 2020 was unusable while the board meant to govern the sub-sector was never put in place. Millers remained with unrestrained powers over farmers, impacting food production, incomes and poverty in cane growing regions.
The RIA process critically assessed the positive and negative effects of the proposals put forward and what the existing regulatory framework could be polished to work. The RIA will also help identify non-regulatory alternatives that are relevant to the sugarcane sub-sector.
Mr. Stephen Tibeijuka Byantwale, the principal agriculture inspector at the MAAIF, said at a recent RIA development consultative meeting: “As a ministry we would like the RIA to elaborate the issues around four areas of the value chain – all the way from production and productivity to [processing and marketing].”
He added that issues of varieties available for farmers – production and productivity – issues of inputs for the sugarcane industry, markets and farm structures must be addressed. For instance, he wondered, “What is the minimum acreage that you can plant sugarcane and it makes economic sense?”
