Ugandan government is opposed to the proposal to export unprocessed raw materials like sugarcane, according Trade, industry and Cooperatives Minister, Ms Amelia Kyambadde says.
The minister on Thursday told the Parliament that such a plan would hamper industrial growth.
Ms Kyambadde, who was presenting a statement on issues of excess sugarcane in Busoga Sub-region said Uganda’s policy encourages value addition to products produced locally.
She argued that although Busoga sub region has recorded 500,000 tons of excess sugarcane in the last two months, the local sugar millers can process all the mature sugarcane.
Adding that the excess cane supply was caused by the suspension of sugarcane processing by Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL) and Kakira Sugar Works, to carry out annual routine maintainance of their machinery.
She said that to make matters worse, Mayuge Sugar, Kamuli Sugar and G.M Sugar Ltd factories reported machine breakdowns, which have left farmers mulling the option of exporting their sugarcane to Kenya.