Public Dialogue: Revisiting Policy, Institutional, and Regulatory Arrangements in Uganda’s Sugarcane sector

Serious challenges have emerged to threaten the future sustainable development the sugarcane sector notwithstanding having in place the 2010 NSP and the 2019 Sugar Act.

The challenges include: i) the exit from sugarcane growing by smallholder farmers linked to persistent decline in cane prices,  unfavourable payment terms by millers, and expansion in nucleus farm by millers; ii)  emergence of sugarcane delivery permits (quota rationing), and invisible actors  (middlemen); iii) abandoning the practice of sugarcane fields registration leading to market information asymmetry between millers and farmers; iv) a disrupted input credit and extension support system  between millers and farmers; v) limited coordination and public support to facilitate a sustainable and competitive sub-sector.

Failure to adequately address the above challenges leaves a number of unanswered questions of policy interest:

• Is the current pricing mechanism adequate to continue incentivizing cane farmers? What would be the implications for food security and welfare?
• Is the government strategy to promote AGI to transform small holder farmers viable for the sugarcane sector given the current trend of expansion of nucleus farms by millers?
• Does Uganda have a competitive advantage to sustainably produce and market sugar?

Against this background, EPRC in collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) under the auspices of the Food Security Policy Research, Capacity and Influence (PRCI) is organizing a half-day dialogue on September 14, 2022 to share the findings of the study the EPRC undertook in December 2021.

Date: September 14, 2022

Venue: Sheraton Hotel

Time: 1PM-5pm EAT

Zoom Details;