Sugarcane farmers will begin earning bonuses from their produce starting this year.
Bonus payment is part of the reforms the Kenya Kwanza administration promised to implement in the sugar industry.
Cane farmers will now join their counterparts in the tea and coffee sectors who have been earning bonuses.
This was announced by President William Ruto when he graced a thanksgiving ceremony for Co-operatives and SMEs Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya at Mabole grounds in Butere subcounty on Saturday.
“I want to say here today as I said earlier that we have streamlined operations at Mumias Sugar Company and sugarcane farmers will start earning bonuses from their produce starting this year,” he said.
The Government will streamline operations at the struggling Nzoia Sugar Company in the next phase soon as it is through with an ongoing court case.
“We want to provide leadership that will pay sugarcane farmers on time, pay the right prices, pay the workers and be able to pay bonus to farmers,” he said.
“It is time we change the way we do business so to benefit farmers instead of importers,” he said.
The National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers asked the government to clarify the criteria and the legal framework it will use.
Deputy secretary general Simon Wesechere said that such criteria is neither provided for in the existing Sugar Act or regulations.
He asked the government to focus on delivery of structures to capture the President’s statements, adding that the Sugar Bill 2019 is one such structure.
“The president should push for an amendment in the Bill that has overstayed in the corridors of Parliament since 2018 to introduce the bonus clause. Until then, all he is telling us is nothing but hot air,” Wesechere said.
“How would you pay a bonus yet there is no legal framework in place?” he asked.
The president’s announcement comes when cane farmers are complaining about low prices for raw cane.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Andrew Karanja on Wednesday announced the new price per tonne of cane at Sh 5,000 effective Thursday.
Two week earlier on August 7, the Agriculture and Food Authority had announced Sh 4,900 as the interim price per tonne, citing absence of a sugar cane pricing committee.
Ruto said the government had allocated Sh2.6 billion to connect 32, 000 people to the electricity grid in Kakamega county.
