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Kikuube passes ordinance banning small scale sugar cane plantations
Leaders are seen attending the Kikuube District Council meeting at the district headquarters in Kikuube Town on Aigust 30, 2024. PHOTO/JOSEPH KASUMBA
What you need to know:
- Under the ordinance, farmers with less than four acres of land will not be allowed to grow sugarcane.
Kikuube Friday evening passed an ordinance banning small scale sugar cane plantations, a move district authorities said is aimed at protecting sugarcane farmers in addition to enhancing food security.
The ordinance was approved during the district council meeting at the district headquarters in Kikuube Town Council, after it was presented by Nestori Tumwesigye, the secretary for production and natural resources.
The ordinance, which was unanimously approved, seeks to protect farmers and the general population of Kikuube from food and nutritional insecurity, through ensuring production of sugarcane is done alongside production of food crops.
However, it is also intended “to foster and sustain a good harmonious relationship amongst all sugarcane stakeholders.”
Under the ordinance, farmers with less than four acres of land will not be allowed to grow sugarcane.
The ordinance implies that sugarcane production will be carried out while growing crops for food and nutritional security amid corporate social investment, environmental and socio-cultural preservation, industrial and labor relations, levies and taxes, health and safety, protection of physical plans, protection of children and marginalized persons.
“The ordinance will be submitted to the Attorney General for scrutiny and later gives it a green light with amendments or without amendments,” Kikuube District Council Speaker Christopher Nkalu told Monitor.
District LCV Chairperson Peter Banura said they were forced to come up with the ordinance after getting several complaints from out growers being mistreated by sugar companies.
Councillors Christopher Asiimwe and Susan Kabasindi explained that: “The main purpose of the ordinance is that we want farmers to be protected but at the same time the farmers should have enough food especially at home.”
Kikuube Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Amlan Tumusiime welcomed the ordinance “because it will help to regulate sugarcane growing as most people had abandoned production of food crops.”
Kikuube District sugarcane out grower Brian Baguma also hailed the ordinance saying it would help farmers “overcome being cheated by companies.”
Many sugar firms contacted for a comment including Hoima Sugar Company Limited -through its Public Relations Officer Israel Odiit- said they were yet to read the ordinance.
