Agriculture and Food Authority allows sugar production to resume

Sugarcane farmers stranded before delivering them at Chemelil Sugar Company. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

Sugar production in the country is set to return to normal in the last quarter of the year.

This follows an agreement between the Agriculture and Food Authority and sugar milling companies' directors paving the way for milling companies to resume operations.

"We have reviewed your request based on the cane availability survey we undertook on September 19, 2023. We hereby grant approval for sugar milling resumption at a low crushing capacity," the director stated.

Further, the company is allowed to mill its raw materials for a period of 15 days per month at a maximum capacity of 600 Tons of Cane per Day.

The directors came to the decision following a previous stakeholders meeting on July 13 in Kisumu that agreed on certain issues that were to be adhered to by the milling companies.

"Sugarcane milling operations in the Western region temporarily cease with immediate effect for a period of four months to allow sugarcane to mature," the letter read.

In the meeting, the stakeholders also resolved that milling operations in the Nyando region were to continue for a period of two weeks and later discontinue from July 27 to allow canes to mature.

However, the companies in Transmara, Sony Sugar, and Sukari industries were to continue with normal operations due to mature cane availability.

Additionally, the forum concluded that sugar cane plantation statistics were to be taken in two months to determine the state of the raw materials availability.