The Pain Of A Small Sugarcane Grower In Busoga Land

Friends,
The agricultural revolution was a game changer in my grandfather’s life as it enabled him to pay fees for all his kids and grand-kids(orphans), and I thought it would be a game changer for me when I started growing sugarcane in Busoga land a few years ago but this hasn’t been the case, and its damn depressing. At a global level, the demand for sugar has been underpinned by consumption growth in developing country markets and declining production in the EU. Since 2005 world prices have been buoyant and the terms of trade for sugar have greatly improved. In fact,in August 2009 prices hit a 30 year high.

MAIN PROBLEMS
Factory owners and transporters are the determinants of almost everything in Busoga: from distribution of decision making, incomes, and social responsibility. Farmers take their produce there by big lorries and tractors, but the price is heavily dependent on how much cane is for sale elsewhere.Transporting the crop to a nearby mill to be crushed costs about shs.23,000 per tone yet the factory pays averagely shs.68000 per tone.The buyers give farmers the cheapest price because the sugarcane is in surplus.

Keen to profit from the opportunities emerging in east Africa, Asian-owned companies have entered the region’s sugar economy. Let us not forget that Brazil and India are the two biggest sugar producers in the world.The Indian sugar industry has sent trade associations to Africa to increase exports of Indian sugar cane machinery and technology,a market worth some $0.5bn in 2009.

The biggest factory is Kakira sugar ltd which normally buys a ton of sugarcane at 68,000/= while Mayuge sugar industries normally buys a ton of sugar cane at 70,000/=, but Mayuge is now buying only at shs.68000 only because Kakira isn’t taking anymore sugarcane at the moment.

By my calculations, a farmer who has invested about shs.6m in the land(from harvesting to cutting and transporting) gets a net profit of only shs.2m if other factors remain constant. How can somebody sweat for 16-18 months waiting for a mere shs.2m! I bet most people don't realize this because sometimes Kakira gives them arrears to ‘sweeten’ them up, but ,overall, it’s not worth it. The person who makes a lot of money is the one who owns his own transport.

Getting a cane supply permit from Kakira is quite a complex process and takes time especially for a new farmer who is just starting.Through a friend, I managed to get a farmer code but Kakiira couldn’t give me a permit apparently because the factory was giving more priority to sugarcane from their own farms, and some of those farms had been burnt down. So, most farmers have desperately turned to Mayuge Sugar Ltd for a solution.

Kakira Sugar Ltd has a fixed rate that is charged by the transporter for transporting sugarcane to the factory premises and the rate is determined by the distance from the factory, this is done in such a way that transport fees are automatically deducted upon weighing of the trucks. With Mayuge,getting a permit can be done by anyone as long as you have sugarcane and this process can take up to two or three days but the farmer has to always negotiate with the transporter for transport charges.

It is worth remembering that many of the people working for sugar factories in the region are employed on a seasonal basis.This is undoubtedly linked to Asian’s exploitation of the current political structural power in the region, and reluctance to embed themselves more fully in the Ugandan economy.

A lot of people in Busoga no longer grow food as there is almost sugarcane everywhere, and i believe this is one of the reasons why food prices have gone high. People cut down their food crops and went for sugarcane because they have got to pay fees for their kids. So, food seems to be a luxury even for visitors in Busoga.

The unskilled, seasonal workers do the cutting and are usually paid peanuts. In addition, the small scale farmers and the local communities around the sugar cane factories are usually pressured to sell their land by the factory owners.If you refuse to sell your land, they will either bloke the road to your land or do everything necessary to force you to sell the land.

Another problem i saw resulting from sugarcane plantation is that the Hygiene and water quality is poor in the most of the Busoga.Sugarcane is always found bordering a body of water on dirt or sand as it requires directly adjacent water to grow. Even though it’s slow growing, when you harvest a mature plant you receive three sugarcane units. On top of that, you don’t need to hoe the ground you plant sugarcane on and, because it grows in multiple segments, you can break just the top pieces off and leave the bottom block perpetually growing. It takes approximately 16-22 month for sugar cane to be fully mature.An acre of land can yield from 30-40 metric tons.

These examples are not meant to deny that the sugar industry has bolstered the economy in important ways, but they are doing more harm than good at the moment.Despite some success,there are challenges related to addressing issues of fairness and social justice.The big sugar producers are undoubtedly important employers,service providers and foreign exchange earners. Nevertheless, they could and should do more to assist the poor in villages. Nobody cares for a farmer in Busoga or elsewhere in Uganda,and this is so hurting.

INTERVENTION
The government should make a policy to intervene with individual farmers at its focus. The distress caused by sugar factory owners and transporters is unbelievable. People where these factories are located aren’t benefiting much from them as the poverty in Busoga is so depressing.

Non-intervention is not an alternative in this case, and I believe its the main reason why most youths are no longer interested in farming. For instance, In Kenya they have got the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) and the Sugar Act which gave KSB teeth to bite and powers to streamline the sugar sector.

I remain hopeful that the government and area NGOs will reform the sugar program in Busoga such that the farmers profit more from their sweat, but I also know that it would be an uphill struggle since most of the factory owners seem to be more important to the current government than the majority poor farmers. So, if nothing is done, I think I will diversify to something else as I love farming.

Abbey Kibirige Semuwemba
One of the small-scale sugarcane growers
Abbey Kibirige  Semuwemba
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'Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort” – Paul Meyer