Kinyara sugar factory loses shs22b annually to cane poachers

Kinyara Sugar Factory in Masindi District is grappling with a sugarcane crisis due to rampant poachers of the cash crop that include jiggery producers, owners of rival mills and out-grower farmers, the firm has said.

Factory management says cane poachers account for annual losses of about Shs22 billion in Kinyara Sugar factory.  

According to Kinyara Sugar’s deputy agricultural manager Sam Rugambwa, “both the factory's own sugarcane fields and those of private out-growers have become targets of a covert operation that seeks to steal sugarcane for private mills and jaggery production.”

Rugambwa claims that there’s collusion involving competing millers, jaggery producers and factory insiders mostly drivers.

“These drivers are alleged to be accepting bribes in exchange for diverting loaded Kinyara sugarcanes to unauthorized destinations, thereby disrupting the factory's cane supply chain,” he asserted.

He said the coordinated effort has reportedly led to the loss of a staggering 2,000 hectares of sugarcane since 2017, equivalent to an entire month's milling and the said annual financial setback of approximately Shs22billion.

“The shortage of sugarcane has not only impacted the factory's sugar production but also its power generation capacity. Kinyara currently struggles with a sugarcane scarcity, which has halved its daily crushing capacity to 5,000 to 6,000 metric tons, significantly lower than the factory's potential of 10,000 metric tons,” he told Monitor.

To combat this issue, Kinyara Sugar factory communications chief Aldon Walukanga emphasizes the importance of community vigilance.

Ben Halivu, a sugarcane out-grower in Masindi District suggested that fostering strong relations with the local community and educating them about the detrimental impacts of sugarcane poaching will be vital and will address the problem.

Meanwhile, Walukanga revealed that Kinyara Sugar factory aims to enhance transportation security by closely monitoring the vulnerable link in the supply chain and the transportation of cane.

“Drivers suspected of colluding with external parties will face consequences while others will receive training to prevent unauthorized diversions of Kinyara's sugarcane,” he remarked on Tuesday.