To survive, farmers must abandon sugarcane
What you need to know:
- Every year, illegal sugar importers rake in billions at the expense of the hapless local sugar millers, yet few culprits have been arraigned in court over this.
- The western sugar belt should be told the truth about the bleak future of what has been their lifeblood for decades now. Now is the time to consider other options.
- A survey by Kenana Engineering and Technical Services of Sudan suggested that Kenyan farmers would be better off growing maize instead of sugarcane because the local product is likely to remain unfeasible for many years to come. Stakeholders should take this advice seriously.
The impending collapse of the sugar industry in western Kenya heralds an economic crisis in the region. About three million people who directly or indirectly depend on sugarcane farming will be affected.
Thousands of jobs will be lost as mills close and many livelihoods will be ruined. Crime will soar as youths resort to illicit means to earn a living.
The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) is to blame for these woes. The Sugar Act gave KSB teeth to bite and powers to streamline the sugar sector, but it has done nothing.
It is just three months to the end of the Comesa safeguards after a one-year extension early this year. The impoverished cane farmer deep in the villages of Kabras and Shianda in the western sugar belt knows nothing about what this means. Little has been done to cushion him against the devastating effects of cheap sugar imports expected in the country after the Comesa safeguards expire.
Many things have gone wrong. For instance, the high level of indebtedness by state-owned millers has made it impossible to privatise the factories.
Ten years since the Comesa safeguards began, we have yet to see a sucrose-based pricing policy in place. Farmers are still paid based on the weight of cane delivered rather than sucrose content.
CANE SHORTAGE
Some millers are still wrangling over licensing of their competitors without enforceable cane supply agreements. Sugarcane shortage, an issue that should have been addressed long ago, is still a major problem.
Whether these problems are intentionally created to keep well-connected sugar barons in business is still a puzzle. More than eight years ago, Mumias Sugar Company, now on its deathbed, entered an agreement with the Tana River Development Authority to develop high-yielding, early-maturing sugarcane on 16,000 hectares land in Tana River County. The project must have stalled before it even began.
Every year, illegal sugar importers rake in billions at the expense of the hapless local sugar millers, yet few culprits have been arraigned in court over this. When the Comesa floodgates are finally flung open next year, we will have a sugar glut and this will be the final nail in our coffin as our expensive products will not be able to compete with the cheap imports.
A survey by Kenana Engineering and Technical Services of Sudan suggested that Kenyan farmers would be better off growing maize instead of sugarcane because the local product is likely to remain unfeasible for many years to come. Stakeholders should take this advice seriously.
The western sugar belt should be told the truth about the bleak future of what has been their lifeblood for decades now. Now is the time to consider other options.
The few who are conversant with current trends in the global market are turning to nonprofit NGOs that have intensive food crop farming programmes. Dairy and poultry farming are other lucrative alternatives.
The disconnect between agriculture policymakers and the farmer on the ground has cost us dearly. Diversification is the way to go, especially now with Comesa sugar on the horizon.
The writer is a sugarcane farmer from the west Kenya sugar belt. ([email protected])
