Sugarcane farmers in Soin/Sigowet sub-county within Kericho County are a happy lot following the establishment of a Sh3.5 billion sugar factory by local investors in a bid to tap huge potential from the cash crop in the rich agricultural area.
Situated in Kapkornom area in Soin/Sigowet constituency, West Valley Sugar Factory, the milling plant,the first of its kind in Kericho is equipped with the latest technology, which includes automated machinery and a quality control system to ensure sugar products are of the highest quality.
According to the factory’s Managing Director (MD) Benard Soi, West Valley Sugar Factory is 85 per cent complete and will commence operations within three months with the target to produce 2,500 bags of sugar cane daily by milling 1,250 tonnes of sugarcane sourced from farmers in Soin/Sigowet sub-county, Ainamoi sub-county and Tinderet constituency in Nandi County.
He revealed that the milling plant will create 1,500 jobs for Kericho residents in addition to contributing towards the development of the local community through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.
MD Soi revealed that they had registered 3,800 cane farmers to supply the cash crop for production.
“This is the first mill to be in Kericho County so we expect the farmers of Kericho to fully support it, it is their own factory, it is farmer-based and the investors are local so we expect 100 per cent support from the farmers. Right now we have registered 3,800 sugar cane farmers. There is also a lot of uncultivated land in Kericho where we are going to do cane development with the farmers, we are going to give seedlings to farmers and provide them with fertilizer so that we develop the cane so that within the next two years we will have enough cane in the region,” added MD Soi.
The milling factory will generate 3 Megawatts of power which will be used to run the factory with the excess power being channeled to provide street lighting to the communities residing around the area, added MD Soi.
Speaking shortly after touring the sugar factory, Kericho Governor Dr. Eric Mutai hailed the factory’s management for the establishment of the new sugar milling plant saying it will make a significant impact in the economy of the area and the county at large.
He revealed that Kericho county government had employed 30 agricultural extension officers to assist sugar cane farmers in the sub-county in improving production and productivity of their cash crop.
Dr. Mutai promised sugar cane farmers that the county government will give incentives in terms of farm inputs subsidies to increase their production so that the sugar factory will have a constant supply of the raw material.
The county boss added that road infrastructure will be improved to ease transport of the cane to the sugar factory and optimize operations.
Present also was Member of Parliament (MP) for Soin-Sigowet Justice Kemei, Ainamoi MP Benjamin Langat, Kericho County senator Aaron Cheruiyot amongst other invited guests.
Sugar cane is the third most important cash crop grown in the county after tea and coffee. It is grown in four sub-counties of Soin/Sigowet, Kipkelion, Belgut and Ainamoi.
By Sarah Njagi
