Catherine Bekunda and Cyprian Musoke
19 December 2008
Kampala — GOVERNMENT will soon announce new prices for cotton following the fall of world prices, the Prime Minister has announced.
Responding to questions from MPs on Thursday, Apolo Nsibambi said ministers of Finance and Agriculture were meeting the president to finalise on how government will handle the process.
On Wednesday, the leader of opposition, Ogenga Latigo, informed the house that cotton farmers from Pader district were threatening to burn down their cotton produce if government did not intervene quickly in setting favourable prices.
MPs asked government to set a minimum price for cotton this season to save farmers from being fleeced.
William Okecho (Independent), told parliament that the middlemen were offering sh350 to farmers yet government promised sh800.
There was drama in Parliament when Sulaiman Madada, state minister for the elderly and disabled gave a report on behalf of the agriculture minister, requesting Parliament to urgently approve Governments' Price Support Intervention of sh150 per kg in order to salvage the cotton farmer.
He said the government required sh13.5b to cover 170,000 bales of cotton produced in the 2008/2009 season.
The report was, however, recalled when Nsibambi said the ministers of Agriculture and Finance were meeting with the president over th matter.
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