Sugarcane growers’ fear allayed over price drop
What you need to know:
- Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe recently announced in Parliament that his ministry had allocated a budget of Sh7 billion for the Kilombero Valley sugarcane growers to prepare nurseries for improved sugarcane seeds in order to get higher yields.
Morogoro. The leaders of the joint cooperative project of sugarcane growers in the Kilombero Valley have reassured the latter that there will be no drop in the prices of the crop following the good relations between the growers and sugar industry stakeholders.
Speaking to The Citizen yesterday in Ruaha Town, the chairman of the project, Mr Baraka Mkangamo, confirmed that the price of the crop would not decrease, which is currently Sh108,000 per tonne.
Mr Mkangamo said that Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe recently announced in Parliament that his ministry had allocated a budget of Sh7 billion for the Kilombero Valley sugarcane growers to prepare nurseries for improved sugarcane seeds in order to get higher yields.
"We have heard and seen on social media that the price of sugarcane will drop by 70 percent for some farmers, with one politician stating so, but that is not the statement from your leaders.
"We have a procedure for submitting sugarcane price proposals to the relevant authorities as the current price is Sh108,000 per tonne. There are procedures to follow according to the contract," said Mr Mkangamo.
One of the growers from Sanje Ward’s Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Society (Amcos) in Kilombero District, Mr Tabu Lwena, said the government's decision to remove the two percent of withholding tax on the income of sugarcane growers was commendable.
"As sugarcane farmers, we received subsidized fertilizer on time, but the government's decision to remove the 2 percent of withholding tax on farmers' income is commendable, and this Kilombero Valley has many farmers who have benefited," said Mr Lwena.
The project’s operations manager, Mr Seif Mwego, said the Kilombero Valley has small-scale farmers who make up 90 percent of all sugarcane farmers in the country and are located in the valley.
According to Mr Mwego, the sugarcane growers in the valley have benefited greatly since investors came in and achieved significant success starting from the year 1999/2000, when the farmers were producing 160 tonnes of the crop, before currently producing 8,500 tonnes.
"The factory's current capacity takes 6,000 tonnes of farmers' sugarcane out of the 8,500 tonnes, and approximately 2,500 tonnes remain on the farms.
"It is our hope that the completion of the Kilombero sugar factory expansion next year will resolve the challenge of the 2,500 tonnes remaining on farms," said Mr Mwego.
