Farmers: Millers' threat to shut crushing over new prices 'selfish'

A farmer transporting sugarcane to the factory. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]

Sugarcane farmers have accused millers of being selfish after they threatened to stop milling operations today to protest a court order directing them to increase the price of cane.

The farmers said the Sh5,900 per tonne price the court ordered millers to pay was fair enough going by the expenses they incur.

"The millers know the amount of money we spend to produce a tonne of sugar and we get very little profit from the Sh5,900 they (millers) pay us. Just the other day before the factories closed down due to shortage of cane, the buying price was Sh6,100 yet the millers were not complaining," said Charles Atyang Atiang, Kenya Association of Sugar and Allied Products chairman.

Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers Secretary General Simon Wesechere said the millers' threats were not practical.

"It is pretentious for any miller to say he is not making profits or is hurt by the new price because they gain unfairly from cane delivered by farmers. They share the profit from cane on a 50:50 ration when in other nations, millers get 30 per cent of the profits while farmers take home 70 per cent."

This comes even as the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) appealed to the millers to drop the threat and embrace dialogue.

"I know the contention between the framers and millers stems from a court matter which we ought not to delve into. The most important thing is for the two to work together for the growth of the sugar sub-sector. We would love this conflict to be resolved as soon as possible," said Jude Chesire, who heads the directorate. "Our offices are open for us to shepherd dialogue between the warring parties so that we continue to operate harmoniously the way we have been doing."

Justice Jairus Ngaah on April 24, 2024, ordered the 16 millers in the country to buy a tonne of sugarcane at Sh5,900 from an initial price of Sh 5,100 set by the Sugarcane Pricing Committee (SPC) until a case filed by over 260,000 farmers is determined. They had questioned the logic behind the drop in sugarcane price.