The Katukiiro (Prime Minister) of Busoga Kingdom, Dr. Joseph Muvawala, has cried out to President Yoweri Museveni requesting him to intervene and find a solution to the raging sugarcane prices impasse in the subregion.

“I urged President Museveni to take a personal role in ensuring the stability of sugarcane prices, thereby enabling farmers to realize meaningful profits, there is a need to engage directly with both millers and farmers to establish a fair pricing formula,” Muvawala, who is also the Executive Director of National Planning Authority, communicated.

“Sugarcane, being a crucial raw material for various products including sugar and ethanol, necessitates an equitable pricing framework aimed at securing substantial profits for farmers. Why would millers hold unilateral power over pricing decisions?” he questioned.

“Busoga as the largest sugarcane-growing region in the country, I emphasize the importance of market competitiveness and fair pricing ratios to ensure farmers benefit adequately from their role as key suppliers to the millers,” he noted.

On 22nd November 2018, the Parliament of Uganda passed the Sugar Bill, into an Act with amendments but the President refused to sign it into law.

The Bill proposed zoning of sugar cane growers and manufacturers by a radius of 25 kilometers which implies that out growers were restricted from trading off their sugar cane to sugar manufacturers outside their zones.

The Minister of State for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives (Industry), David Bahati, during plenary sitting on Tuesday, 05 December 2023, tabled the Sugar (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

The Bill now seeks to amend the Sugar Act 2020 to establish the sugar industry stakeholder council which would comprise representatives of stakeholders in the sugar industry and be funded by a sugar levy charged on millers.

The Uganda Sugar Industry Stakeholder Council will replace and take on duties of the Sugar Board created by the Sugar Act 2020, and regulate the sugar industry in the country.

According to the Bill, the composition of the Council will include; a Chairperson, four representatives of sugar cane growers, four representatives of sugar cane millers, the Permanent Secretaries or representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, and Trade. Noteworthy is that government representatives will not have voting rights, as stated in the Bill.

“The government will only provide regulatory oversight over the activities of the Council through a few representatives on the Council and technical officers at the secretariat of the Council,” reads the Bill in part.

The Bill further seeks to amend the formula to determine sugar cane prices sold to millers by international norms.

The debate on the Sugar (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was on 07 Feb 2024 deferred after the House failed to agree on the funding of the proposed Sugar Council, which if the bill is passed, will be the regulator of the sector.

The proposal for funding of the council sparked a heated debate with several Members of Parliament advocating for the reinstatement of the Sugar Board.