Sugar canes (Saccharum officinarum L) originate from Indo-Malayan area. Sugar cane is the world’s main source of sugar, followed by sugar beet. It is a perennial that can be harvested 10 times depending on fertility of the site and crop care. The first harvest from planting is virgin cane harvested 18 months after planting. Subsequent sprouts are known as ratoons and these take 10-12 months. The yield of refined sugar is on average 10% of the total cane weight (1 ton or 1,000 Kg will yield 100 Kg of refined sugar) but higher in Brazil (11%) and India (12%). This makes long distance transportation of canes to the factories uneconomical. Sugar cane is grown extensively in a monoculture to maximize on the output by the sugar factory and by-products.

“Uganda is the largest producer of refined sugar in the East African Community.” National annual production is at 510,000 metric tons and consumption is at 360,000 metric tons. Ecological requirements Optimum plant growth temperature is 26-33oC. The crop is water loving requiring 1,500- 1,800 mm/year and 120 mm every month. The soils should be deep and porous and water retaining. pH range is 4-9 but optimum at 6.5. The crop requires a lot of sunshine (1,200-2,000 hours of sunshine/year) for optimum sucrose accumulation.

Sugarcane growing in Uganda and trade in sugar and its related products is increasingly gaining importance as a cash crop with financial benefits to the smallholder farmers with an opportunity to poverty eradication and food security at the household level