Hundreds of farmers in Migori county have grown sugarcane as their major industrial crop since around 1979, with hopes of transforming their economic fortunes.
Cane has been their economic mainstay and in the late eighties they minted millions of shillings from crop sales.
However in the late nineties, the sole semi-autonomous government miller in the area, South Nyanza Sugar Company or Sony, started registering heavy losses annually.
Low cane prices and late payment became the order of the day.
Today, the sector is moribund and many farmers are thinking of abandoning growing cane for alternative crops.
Nearly 40 years into cane farming, more than 50,000 farmers still live in ramshackle shelters and cannot educate their children, clothe them properly, offer them good health care or provide for the basic needs of their families.
“We toil and produce tonnes of sugar every year only to earn peanuts,” Michael Onyango, a prominent sugarcane farmer in the extensive Awendo sugar belt, says.
From Kuria to Uriri, Rongo and Kabuoch in Homa Bay, diehard sugarcane farmers are today a disappointed lot, accusing top players in the sector of betraying their hopes of economic transformation.
The low living standards of farmers from Nyamilu village in Uriri subcounty sharply contrast with the efforts they put in growing the crop.
The crumbling walls of mud houses in the villages are an obvious sign of the poverty of the residents. They have clung on to a sinking sector, rocked by dishonesty, unclear policy guidelines, corruption and an unfair competition among players.
“Farmers are unhappy with the sharp decline in prices of cane delivered to factories operating in the region, even as cane demand in the market continues to rise ten-fold in the recent years,” Paul Otieno, a Migori-based economist, says.
Sony, the largest and the oldest sugar miller in the area, has in the past years pricked the nerves of farmers by its unilateral decision to reduce prices from Sh4,500, the highest cane prices ever paid by local millers, to Sh3,200 per tonne despite the high cost of production.
Other millers - Sukari Industries in Ndhiwa in neighbouring Homa Bay county and Trans Mara Sugar in Narok county - have not excited farmers with their prices that are not commensurate with the production cost. These two millers commenced operations in 2011.
The Kenya National Sugarcane Farmers Union (KENSGU) says the prices offered to farmers are illegal.
But leaked documents indicate the millers are planning further price cuts for the crop.
MILLERS VS FARMERS
KENSGU branch chairman Peter Nyamori has for years been protesting against the low prices and illegal deductions imposed on farmers’ produce.
He says the millers want to fleece farmers, considering the prices entrenched in the Kenya Sugar Act.
Nyamori says while expectations are high to make cane farming a lucrative activity, the fear is that millers have turned it into a cash-cow to the detriment of the farmers.
Farmers in the region now warn they might be forced to stop producing the crop. But this is unlikely to happen.
They cannot survive without cane which pays much more than maize and tobacco, the other major cash crops produced in the region.
A visitor to this region would marvel at the lush, green farms of well-tended cane that stand out against a backdrop of weathered maize fields in villages ravaged by poverty. “Whereas the millers stand accused of offering cane producers peanuts in terms of prices, farmers are themselves to blame for failing to spend their income wisely,” Elias Owino, a student of Economics at Maseno University, said.
Speaking in Migori, Owino advised farmers to admit that growing cane is expensive, adding that the business is only worthwhile if the crop fetches a good price.
A senior manager at Sony recently told farmers at a meeting that what the company was paying them for a tonne of produce was actually good enough and that they should stop complaining about being exploited.
“You should be aware that the prices are dictated by prices of sugar in the world market,” acting Sonymanager Benard Otieno said.
The sugar sector is afflicted by many other problems like poor cane seeds, low cane development, high cost of farm inputs and cane poaching among factories. These are the main causes of serious cane shortages.
The sector also suffers from massive illegal sugar importation, poor management of the milling plants because of corruption and lack of proper policy guidance by government.
SONY’S SOLUTION
To guard against cane shortages in future, Sony’s management, in collaboration with research agencies in the county, has developed new sugarcane varieties that mature faster and produce higher yields.
The company says some of the varieties will mature within 12 months, cutting the normal waiting period for harvest by half. Other varieties will give farmers double yields.
On the other hand, the government is fighting illegal importation of sugar to save the sector from collapse. It is also funding the public milling companies and streamlining their management.
Through the Privatisation Commission of Kenya, the state has shortlisted five semi-autonomous milling factories for sale to improve operations.
Those lined up for sale are Sony, Chemelil, Nzoia, Miwani and Muhoroni. Leaders from cane growing regions have rejected the proposal, citing lack of adequate consultation about the privatisation.