The Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers’ Chairperson Ezra Okoth has urged the new Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development Dr. Andrew Mwihia to reconstitute the Sugarcane Pricing Committee.
The Sugarcane Pricing Committee is an autonomous committee comprising the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, millers and members from the sugar producing counties.
Okoth said that the cane prices per tonne have drastically been dropping from Sh 5,900 in March this year to Sh5,125 in June and now Sh4,950 in August.
He said that the high cost of production cannot march the new prices noting that farmers are incurring losses.
“A farmer cannot benefit if the costs per tonne keep reducing while the cost of production is still high,” lamented Okoth.
He asked the CS to call for a meeting between sugarcane stakeholders including millers, sugar directorate and farmers to iron out issues of cane farming in the country.
The official also called for amendment of the Sugar Bill 2022 to help address challenges like unhealthy competition from millers, the payment period, price stabilization and other factors like paying farmers for the cane by-products.
Sugar Bill 2022, if enacted will provide aspects of the development, regulation and promotion of the sugar industry and for the establishment, powers and functions of the Kenya Sugar Board.
The Bill will also restore the roles of the Sugar Board currently undertaken by the Sugar Directorate of the Agriculture and Food Authority established under the Agriculture and Food Authority Act, 2013.
On the issue of the free market, Okoth elaborated that regional zoning should be imposed to protect cane farmers from imports.
“Is it ethical for sugarcane to be imported from Western to Nyanza millers while we have cane farmers in those regions?” questioned Okoth.
He however urged the sugar directorate to continue equipping and financing the Kenya Sugar Research Institute to enable it to produce new and improved cane varieties to boost sugarcane production in the country.
By Geoffrey Makokha
