Sugarcane Growers Association of Malawi (SGAM) has asked Members of the Parliament to discuss and pass Sugar Industry Bill so that some of the challenges growers face should be addressed.
One of the growers, Henry Chimunthu Banda, told journalists on Wednesday that the bill will provide sanity, solutions and answers to numerous challenges which have been noticed recently due to the absence of the bill.
Chimunthu who is a former legislator added that the growers from Chikwawa, Salima and Nkhotakota went to Parliament to ask the committee to enquire from the Ministry of Agriculture why there are some delays on the bill.
He noted that in June 2022, top government officials in the Ministry of agriculture interacted with the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and they did indicate that government had processed the bill from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Justice but up to now the Bill is not yet out.
“The information about the stage of the bill came public and came through the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture,” he said.
On his part, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sammer Suleman said the last time they engaged the Ministry of Agriculture concerning the issue, the ministry promised that the bill will be coming out anytime but until today the bill is still stuck at the ministry.
He went on to say that they cannot do much as a committee because they are waiting from the ministry to table the bill.
“It is our plea to the Ministry of Agriculture to bring forward the sugar bill. On the ground, it is parallel with our neighbours. If you go to Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, Sugar is regulated and it being our third forex earner we should regulate how sugar is processed, right from the field to the selling point. This is why we are calling on the ministry to bring the sugar bill,” he explained.
He then said that they have given them some days to meet with the ministry to update them as a committee about the bill and the Tobacco Bill.
