More than 30,000 cane farmers in Nyando, Kisumu, have supported the government's plan to privatise sugar factories.
The farmers under the Kisumu Sugarbelt Cooperative Union, however, want the county government to be in charge of the land on which the factories are built. The land belonged to their ancestors, the farmers said.
They also supported the Sugar Industry Task Force Report, which was recently handed over to President Uhuru Kenyatta for implementation.
The report contains recommendations that, if properly implemented, could deal effectively with most of the problems farmers have been facing for years.
The farmers opposed the merging of public factories. Kisumu hosts three government-owned factories – Chemelil, Muhoroni and Miwani. All three are in Muhoroni subcounty.
Union chairman Zedekiah Odhiambo Otene said on Thursday the factories should be privatised to encourage competition.
He said they would resist plans to merge Miwani, Muhoroni and Chemelil factories.
“We want each factory to be supported financially to make them vibrant and productive for job creation,” he said in a statement.
The union also opposed milling zoning but supported the establishment of regional cane catchment areas. According to recommendations, two or more mills will be clustered within a defined geographical region and farmers will have the freedom to sell their cane to any miller of their choice.
"Most farmers have opted to either diversify to other crops or abandon sugarcane farming altogether since maintaining their farms has been a challenge,” he said.
Otene said the tas kforce's recommendation that a contract which recommends that farmers be paid within seven days be developed and enforced.
Former Kisumu majority leader Samuel Ong’ou welcomed the re-introduction of Sugar Development Levy (SDL) as a source of affordable credit to support the industry's financial requirement.
He said in the past, individual farmers through farmers' organisations benefited from the SDL. Besides, Ong’ou said, the fund was used to fund research, factory rehabilitation and infrastructure development.
Farmers further called for the formation of a sugar sector stakeholders committee comprising representatives of key players as a way of providing a self-governance framework for the coordination of industry activities.
Edited by A. Ndung'u
