Sony Sugar pays farmers Sh350m for cane deliveries

Workers outside Sony Sugar offices (PHOTO:FILE)

MIGORI, KENYA:  was sweet news to cane farmers in the Awendo sugar belt as Sony Sugar Company paid them a Sh350 million arrears for cane delivered in the last three years.

This comes even as the miller struggled to regain fresh financial footing after five years of loss-making marred by low sugarcane production and inadequate supply of raw materials due to delayed payments.

Most farmers had ditched delivering cane to Sony and opted for rival mills such as Transmara and Sukari Industries in Ndhiwa and Kilgoris town that offered prompt payments on deliveries.

But according to the firm's acting Managing Director Stephen Ligawa, this is now set to end as the firm starts steady milling of cane per day and to pay for cane delivered every two weeks.

The current payments, he disclosed, were made from December to January 11. The payment vouchers were processed as of September last year.

''We are paying farmers 70 percent of their total tonnage yields. The remaining sum is to be paid two weeks after the first payment is made,'' explained Ligawa.

This is part of the mutual agreement which was agreed between farmers' unions and the management a year ago when the factory's optimal productivity and revenue returns drastically dipped.