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Luuka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Sugarcane farmers from Luuka district have petitioned the speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga over their failure to get permits to sell their cane.
The over 300 contract farmers were given a go ahead by both Mayuge sugar and Kakira Sugar to grow sugarcane then sell it back to them, but the factories have reportedly backtracked from buying the cane, leaving the farmers stranded for close to three years now.
The farmers on Thursday petitioned Kadaga asking her to intervene and ensure that the companies can buy their sugarcane.
They have called on the Speaker to assist them get permits for selling the sugarcanes, since they acquired huge loans to produce the canes.
Aggrey Nsubuga who spoke on behalf of the farmers said that several family members are stricken by hunger and money for taking their children to school, and yet they have acres of sugarcane ready for sell but wasting away.
Nsubuga said that several banks had also moved on to attach property of the farmers for defaulting to pay their loans. The farmers cannot sell their sugarcane because the sugarcane companies cannot give them permits. According one of the sugarcane growers, it seems the sugarcane companies already have enough raw materials, and they don’t want to let them sell anywhere else.
In her response, Kadaga pledged to have a meeting with the owners of the factories together with a representative of the petitioners to ensure that the matter is resolved.
She also assured them that the pledge made by the president to help farmers in Busoga region to acquire their own mill is on course and this should be able to solve several problems they are experiencing in regards to the big factories and their operations.
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