Regulation hands public millers raw material lifeline

Sylvester Mango, a sugarcane farmer in Mungakha village, Kakamega County. New sugar regulations will ensure prompt payment for farmers. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

New regulations for the sugar sector will protect State-owned millers from cane poaching.

The regulations, which will be gazetted as soon county governments lift a caveat placed on them, will prevent private sugar factories from preying on cane in State-owned zones.

County governors want a stake in the licensing of millers in their regions.

Head of Sugar Directorate Solomon Odera said whereas the proposed milling zones would be pegged on crushing capacity, sharing of cane would be limited to cane developed by independent outgrowers.

While offering private players an opportunity to continue sharing cane with public firms, the regulations will also require them to invest in nucleus farms.

The sugarcane poaching menace has been blamed for endemic poor performance of State-owned factories, including Kenya’s largest miller – Mumias Sugar Company.

The company is currently crushing at 12 per cent of its 8,000 metric tonne cane capacity after private firms raided its backyard for cane.

State sugar millers' inability to make prompt payments for deliveries saw some of their contracted farmers divert cane to private factories, which promised higher returns.

Advance subsidies

Millers advance subsidies and other forms of support to contracted farmers and are therefore bound to the contracts.

The policy drafted in 2001 contains guidelines that will govern the ailing sector.

Its enactment seeks to restore order in the industry that has been riddled with challenges such as wanton licensing of millers close to one another, cane wars, illegal importation and branding of cheap sugar as well as inefficiency of public millers, which has resulted in suffering for farmers.

The policy is also a boon for farmers as it specifies the relationship between them, millers, transporters and cane cutters. It prescribes the terms under which they are to be paid for cane delivered, farm gate prices as well as harvesting periods.

Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Willy Bett has also pledged to ensure that the Sugar Development Levy, which was scrapped in the last fiscal year, is restored.