Mumias Sugar prepares to reopen on Tuesday after a month of closure

Mumias Sugar Company will carry out trial tests on its milling machines Monday, paving the way for normal operations to resume after a month of closure.

The company stopped operations last month for the annual plant maintenance.

By last Saturday, the company was hauling cane to the main yard in preparation for the final test run.

A management official said some 7,500 tonnes of cane will be used for the test run.

Mr Moses Owino, the firm’s communications manager told the Nation that the four-day dry test of the mills had been successful.

“The test run on Monday will involve actual crushing of cane to enable the maintenance team determine whether the repairs have gone according to plan and should need arise fix any last minute glitches before we can resume normal operations,” said Mr Owino.

“Once we have sugar at the end of the process during the test run, then we can confidently declare the maintenance has been successful and resume crushing on Tuesday,” said Mr Owino.

IMPROVE MILLING CAPACITY

The maintenance is expected to improve the milling capacity to 6,500 tonnes per day.

The factory’s crushing capacity had dropped to below 4,000 tonnes per day which the firm’s management said was uneconomical.

Cane farmers in the expansive sugar belt exuded confidence that the new management team at Mumias Sugar had what it takes to turn around the fortunes of the financially troubled sugar miller.

Mr Echesa Bualire from Lushea Village in Mumias East Constituency has planted four acres of cane and attributes the woes facing the giant sugar miller to mismanagement and corruption.

He said farmers who invested heavily in sugarcane growing were disillusioned by the poor management which had led to the near collapse of the sugar miller.

“It is so disheartening that after all the toil for a period of eighteen months before the cane matures for harvesting a farmer ends up in debt instead of being rewarded for the hard work,” said Mr Bualire.

He said apart from delayed payment for cane delivered for crushing, farmers ended up in debts due to the high cost of ploughing their farms, seed cane and other inputs including fertilizer.

The sugar miller is currently paying farmers outstanding arrears amounting to Sh600 million after the government released Sh1 billion bailout cash in June 2015.