51-year-old Vilomena Merekula is one of eleven sugarcane farmers from the North that have received sugarcane farming grant from the Ministry of Sugar.
She received $5060.
Merekula says she has been involved in the sugar industry for years, helping plant cane on her in‑laws land but she never owned a farm.
Merekula says prior to her father‑in‑law’s land lease expiring, they decided that the land title to be transferred to her and they have been trying to do so for the past nine years.
She says it was only late last year that she managed to get the title and the contract and she is grateful that she got the assistance.
She adds the lease had expired in 2017, so they could not harvest the cane adding they finally managed to harvest last year when she finally got the lease.
Merekula says cane farming is very lucrative but in order for them to get good results, they need to put in a lot of work.
She has thanked the Government for this assistance because it would definitely boost production.
Merekula is also advising other women that they too could be cane farmers and own their land.
She says this is not just a man’s job, women can do it and if they have an interest in cultivating cane, she urged women to try it out.
While handing out the grants the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Sugar Yogesh Karan, says the Government would continue to provide farmers a reasonable amount of funding to mechanise the industry and to build cane access roads.
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