"We need to balance the needs of preserving the eco-system with the needs for social transformation - changing the society from peasant to middle class, skilled working class society," Museveni said in a commentary in the state-run New Vision newspaper.

"This means that the majority of the people should shift from agriculture to industries and services. Having too many people in agriculture as we do now (at 82 percent) is one of the characteristics of backwardness," Museveni said.

Museveni supports controversial plans to hand over 7,000 of the 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) in Mabira Forest Reserve east of the capital Kampala to the Indian-owned Mehta Group to grow sugarcane.

The move has angered conservationists and opposition lawmakers, who have demonstrated recently against the handover.

On April 12, at least three people were killed in a demonstration to preserve the forest and last week, Ugandan police fired live bullets, tear gas canisters and arrested 23 people in a similar demonstation.

Two opposition lawmakers were charged with incitement, but enviromentalists have showed no sign of letting up.

Museveni said he targeted the forest land because there was no other land to plant sugarcane for industrial use.

"Why, then, use forest lands? This is because there is no free land. Much of the land is occupied by peasants who are engaged in traditional, subsistence farming. Both physically and legally we cannot access this land," he said.

Furious conservationists have warned that further encroachment of the forest would threaten up to 312 species of trees, 287 bird species and nearly 200 kinds of butterflies.

earlier related report
Ugandan MPs oppose plan for sugarcane plantation
Kampala (AFP) April 21 - Almost half of Uganda's lawmakers oppose a controversial proposal to allow forest land to become a sugarcane plantation, a newspaper reported Saturday.

A poll of 200 of the 332 members of parliament found that 81 percent, or 162 MPs in total, were against President Yoweri Museveni's plan, state-owned daily New Vision reported.

The project would see nearly a quarter of the 30,000-hectare (75,000-acre) Mabira Forest Reserve east of Kampala handed over to India's Mehta Group to grow sugar cane.

The government needs a simple majority in parliament to pass the measure but the proposal has angered conservationists and opposition lawmakers. On April 12, at least three people were killed in a demonstration to preserve the forest. Last week, Ugandan police fired live bullets and tear gas canisters and arrested 23 people in a similar protest.

Of those who rejected Museveni's plans in the poll, 72 percent were from his governing National Resistance Movement party.

Museveni defended the plan in a newspaper article on Friday, saying it would lead to industrial development and create jobs in the impoverished nation.

Conservationists have warned that further encroachment of the forest would threaten up to 312 species of trees, 287 bird species and nearly 200 kinds of butterflies.

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Related Links
Save the Forests at Wood Pile
Out Of Africa