President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has announced the government’s intention to purchase Mayuge Sugar Factory and hand it over to sugarcane growers in the Busoga sub-region.
The announcement was made during a stakeholders’ meeting held at Kityerera State Lodge in Mayuge District on Wednesday August 6th 2025.
“I pledged to build a sugar factory for you… They [Mayuge Sugar Factory] want to sell it to the poor people. Do you agree?” President Museveni asked, receiving a resounding “Yes” from farmers.
The deal, if finalized, could transform the economics of sugarcane growing in Busoga, where farmers have long complained of exploitation and low prices under private millers.
The move is being seen as part of government’s broader effort to reposition himself as a champion of agrarian equity ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Mayuge factory purchase is intended to be a farmer-centered ownership model, where profits are expected to flow directly to the growers.
It represents a departure from decades of private-sector dominance in sugar processing often criticized for skewed pricing structures and delayed payments.
President Museveni reaffirmed the need to reform the sugarcane value chain by establishing the long-delayed Sugar Council, as mandated by the Sugarcane (Amendment) Act, 2023. He gave Trade Minister Francis Mwebesa one week to confirm council members.
The new regulatory body will include sugarcane out-growers, millers, and Permanent Secretaries from Agriculture, Finance, and Trade ministries a balancing act that aims to rebuild trust in the sector.
One of the meeting’s most consequential directives was the abolition of the 5% management levy imposed on sugarcane deliveries.
Farmers, led by Budugo Isa of the Uganda National Association of Sugarcane Growers, hailed the move as long overdue.
President Museveni also ordered millers to reject sugarcane mixed with husks and tops, which reduce processing efficiency, but simultaneously emphasized that cane tops valuable as animal feed should not be arbitrarily destroyed.
In a candid moment, Museveni challenged smallholders to reconsider sugarcane growing altogether.
Citing low returns per acre (UGX 4 million annually), the President said families with small plots should shift to the “Four-Acre Model” combining food crops, livestock, poultry, and high-value products like coffee.
The President also revealed that Cabinet will decide next week on the fate of CN Sugar Ltd and Shakti Sugar Ltd, both previously shut down over operational issues.
Meanwhile, the government is moving to compensate unpaid suppliers of Atiak Sugar Factory, with payments expected in the coming days.
Museveni pledged to establish a revolving fund to help sugarcane farmers access fertilizers and mechanization tools part of a broader strategy to increase per-acre productivity and reduce rural poverty.
With sugarcane politics heating up and 2026 around the corner, Museveni’s latest intervention blends policy with politics — and raises both hope and questions for Uganda’s agricultural future.
