Sugar politics and imports leave bitter taste in farmers’ mouths

This Boda Boda rider was captured at Ejinja area along Mumias - Busia road ferrying a handful of sugarcane to an unknown destination on October 30, 2021. [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Farmers in Western and Nyanza are a desperate lot, thanks to the politics of sugar. 

Cartels minting millions of shillings by smuggling cheap imports into the local market have made matters worse.

Farmers say populist politicians have been seeking mileage every election circle in the name of championing their rights. In the end, they make promises they hardly fulfil. 

The controversy around the collapse of Mumias Sugar Company and the push to revive the miller is one touchy matter that politicians have used year in and out to endear themselves to the local farmers.  

And many farmers continue to watch as their mature cane go to waste in farms due to delayed harvesting and the bureaucracy involved.

Sugarcane Farmers and Allied Products Secretary-General Peter Odima regretted that cheap imports in the local market had far-reaching implications on the production and processing of sugarcane locally.

The official wondered why it is hard for security agencies to investigate and expose criminal cartels behind the imports.

According to Odima, cheap sugar is smuggled into the country through porous border points in Busia, Kwale, Kajiado, Mandera, Migori, Trans Nzoia, Narok and Garissa at the expense of local farmers and sugar factories.

“The government should intervene and address issues which threaten the very existence of sugar factories and sugarcane farming,” added Odima. 

During a tour of Nzoia Sugar Company on November 8, Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya promised to deal with brokers who exploiting sugarcane growers.

“We cannot allow a situation where a farmer who has used his energy and resources to farm and develop the crop ends up with nothing,” he said, promising to clean up the industry.

But Odima said farmers are a disappointed because the government had failed to address their plight. “Cane farmers appear to have been abandoned while other sectors like coffee and tea have been thriving.”

Observers say illegal sugar importation into Kenya from countries within Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is a thorn in the flesh of farmers and producers who find the competition unhealthy.

“Retail shops in many parts of Western Kenya have resorted to selling the smuggled sugar because they get it at a cheaper price at the expense of locally manufactured sugar,” claimed Odima.

Earlier, a delegation postponed a visit to Uganda whose mission was to verify claims that sugar barons were using the landlocked country as a conduit to smuggle cheap sugar from other countries into Kenya.

Farmers believe local sugar factories may find it hard to pay Sh4,000 per tonne as earlier directed by the government due to unfair competition.

Boniface Manda, the chairman for the Bunge la Haki Usawa na Maendeleo said the government should deploy its machinery to deal with the situation. “We also expect our leaders to keep politics out of sugar matters and focus on how they can revive the industry for the good of farmers and investors,” said Manda.

The farmers have appealed to CS Munya and his Interior counterpart Fred Matiang’i to form a multi-agency team to look into issues raised by the farmers.

Manda said smugglers have positioned themselves to make a killing during the festive season by shipping in thousands of tonnes of the cheap sugar.

“These cartels are not any different from terrorists whose actions lead to a crippled economy. They are exploiting and exposing sugarcane farmers to untold sufferings.”

“We don’t want to get to a situation where farmers will not be paid for cane deliveries because factories are stuck with thousands of tonnes of sugar in their godowns,” he argued.

Last week, a multiagency team seized 47 bags of illegal sugar that had been stored in a warehouse in Busia and impounded two vehicles that were transporting the sweetener.