A mother of five was all smiles when she received her sugarcane farming grant from the Ministry of Sugar last week.
Fifty-one-year-old Vilomena Merekula was one of the 11 new sugarcane farmers in the North that received this assistance from the Government.
Mrs Merekula, who received $5060 as grant, could not hide her excitement saying that the assistance provided could not have been timelier.
“I’ve been involved in the sugar industry for years, helping plant cane on my in-laws land but never have I owned a farm. Prior to my father-in-law’s land lease expiring, we decided that the land title to be transferred to me and we have been trying to do so for the past nine years,” the Navakuru, Cakaudrove native said.
“It was only in late last year that I managed to get the title and the contract. So I applied for this grant, and today I am assisted by Government and for that I am thankful.”
She said the lease had expired in 2017, so they could not harvest the cane. They finally managed to harvest last year when she finally got the lease.
“I would say that cane farming is very lucrative but in order for you to get good results, you need to put in a lot of work. I would like to thank the Government for this assistance because it would definitely boost production,” Mrs Merekula said.
She is also advising other women that they too could be cane farmers and own their land. “This is not just a man’s job, we women can do it and if you have an interest in cultivating cane, I would like to urge you to try it out,” Mrs Merekula said.
Ministry of Sugar permanent secretary Yogesh Karan, while handing out the grants, said the Government would continue to provide farmers a reasonable amount of funding to mechanise the industry and to build cane access roads.