Cane farmers with mature cane in limbo following the suspension of cane production

A farmer tends to his cane in Kakamega.[Benard Lusigi,Standard]

Patrick Mudialo, 48, at Lunganyiro area Matungu Constituency Kakamega County is doing his third weeding ready for his sugarcane harvest in the next two months.

Mudialo is a devastated farmer following the Agriculture Food Authority's (AFA) decision to suspend cane production for four months due to cane shortage despite having already planted his cane before the suspension.

 The 48-year-old says he was expecting to harvest his cane in the next two months and he is worried about encountering loss due to overstayed mature cane on his six acres farm.

 "As cane farmers, we are very disappointed with the government's decision to suspend cane production by millers. For instance, I am planning to harvest my cane by November and I fear my encountering loss because I don't know when the production will begin, and yet as farmers, we plant our cane at different times," said Mudialo.

 "I have invested almost Sh120,000 as inputs such as fertilizer, cane seedlings, and tilling of land, some of the fertilizers are a loan from some of the cane millers like West Kenya sugar company. If the status quo remains then I expect to encounter loss during my harvest because the sucrose level will have drastically gone down affecting the price per ton," he added.

Mudialo, like many cane farmers who had converged in Matungu during a public participation hearing to give their views and come up with recommendations they will present ahead of the Sugar Conference that is to happen next month in Kakamega county.

However, they requested the government to suspend the directive of four months' closure of cane production and allow the factories to resume operations in order to harvest their mature cane and sell it for a living.

The farmers urged the government in collaboration with county governments to address the issue of cane shortage and poaching in the region for a fair competition by supporting farmers and to make the venture more attractive and sustainable through cane development programs.

Evelyn Mutendechere another farmer from Mumias said the issue of suspending cane production and allowing importation will not address issues affecting the ailing cane sector, especially farmers and factories. 

"My cane take type is Raton and its maturity period is 16 months I have two months more to harvest if they continue to overstay on the farm for more than three months then I will have to encounter a huge loss and I have already injected Sh70, 000 so far and partly of the money is from a loan," said Mutendechere.

"With good preparation, I harvest 80 tones for the 2 acres and if the cane happens to overstay for more than two months and I harvest I will get almost 50 tones because sucrose level will have gone down." 

The farmers feared that some of their cane now risked going bad, facing destruction like fire outbreaks and theft cases. 

"If the situation remains the same then we might see some unscrupulous people destroying the cane either stealing for consumption or selling to small traders at a cheaper price for fear of making losses and lack of factories to buy the cane," said Matendechere. 

Farmers now want the government to subsidize farmers with fertilizers, seedlings, and training and support the cane millers to increase their production. 

Farmers added that the decision has led to mass job loss. 

"We have seen factories harvesting immature and we are now experiencing a shortage of sugar and now we are importing that will not solve the problem we are having, we need factories to respect the working arrangement of other factories in terms of cane development we have seen cane millers like Mumias harvesting immature cane and poaching of raw materials," said Joseph Mulama, a cane farmer. 

"Let the government address the issue of poaching, allow factories to operate, and make cane farming more attractive, viable, and sustainable because many youths are jobless due to the closure of factories," he added. 

Two weeks ago Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa accused Mumias Investor Sarrai Group of failing to revive and make good utilization of the factory's 15,000 acres of nuclear. 

"It is now more than a year and a half since the investor took over the operationalization of Mumias company and but he has failed to utilize the 15,000 acres nuclear farm so far he has only till 5,000 acres and it is a clear indication that Sarrai is struggling and he is unable to revive the factory," said Barasa. 

Barasa however alleged that Sarrai has led to a shortage of cane material in the cane farming belt that has led to unfair competition hence harvesting of immature cane.