Kinyara sugar factory raises cane prices 

Kinyara Sugar Works Limited operating in Masindi District has announced an increase in prices of sugarcane as a way of boosting supply.
The price for out growers has been revised from the current Shs101,000 to Shs128,000 per tonne.
Currently, the factory is experiencing a decline in the supply of sugarcane from 100 percent to 60 percent, according to the factory management.
Mr Mathivan Masilaman, the agricultural manager at Kinyara Sugar Works Limited, on Wednesday said the new price was reached following a meeting between Masindi Sugarcane Outgrowers Association and the factory management.

“We came up with Shs128,000 as the new price per tonne of sugarcane supplied to us by farmers,” Mr Mathivan said.
The shortage of cane has since prices of sugar shoot up, from about Shs4,000 to about Shs6,000.

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At Kinyara sugar factory, a bag of 50 kilogrammes of sugar is being sold at Shs200,000, up from Shs130,000.
In February, President Museveni commissioned the Kinyara industrial white sugar refinery plant with the capacity of producing 60,000 metric tonnes of industrial white sugar annually.

Mr Masilaman, said the new factory, which produces white sugar for export, needs 6,000 to 7,500 tonnes of sugarcane per day to run at full capacity.
“Now we need more sugarcane to run at full capacity our two factories; now we want farmers to inject back 30 percent of the money back to their gardens to ensure good and timely harvests,” he said.

Paying arrears
The factory is also set to pay Shs11 billion to 1,000 farmers who supplied the factory with 400,000 tonnes of sugarcane from July to October 2.
About two years ago, sugarcane farmers in Masindi District reduced production, accusing the factory over poor pay and late payment.
Mr Robert Atugonza, the chairperson of Masindi Sugarcane Farmers Association, said in the previous years, farmers had planted many acres of sugarcane which resulted in more supply than what the factory could buy, which led to low prices.
However, Mr Atugonza said with the increase in prices, farmers will resume their sugarcane business.