- Barasa has called for a conference a kin to the one coffee for Mt Kenya region that was presided over by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in Meru county last week.
- It should come up with proposals for establishing structures for long-term reforms in the sugar subsector.
Image: FILE
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa now wants a conference on the sugar industry for stakeholders to deliberate on revival of the troubled subsector.
He has called for a conference a kin to the one coffee for Mt Kenya region that was presided over by Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in Meru county last week.
It should come up with proposals for establishing structures for long-term reforms in the sugar subsector.
The event will bring together leaders and stakeholders in the sugar sub-sector from the four Western counties.
“Soon, we are going to have a sugar conference as Western Kenya counties to deliberate on how to protect our farmers and ensure that the processing and trading policies benefit farmers and not brokers,” he said.
“Let's have a conversation about sugar so that we can revive the collapsed factories starting with Mumias Sugar Company,” he added.
The governor made the call in a speech read on his behalf by his deputy Ayub Savula during the official opening of the Kakamega annual ASK show on Thursday.
The sugar industry is faced with a myriad of challenges including poor internal governance that has led to accumulated debts by public millers which are chocking with heavy imports of cheap sugar.
The government has not implemented recommendations by the National Sugar Task Force that was appointed in 2018 and co-chaired by then Agriculture CS Mwangi Kiunjuri and former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya.
Mumias Sugar Company, the once premier miller in East and Central Africa controlling up to 60 per cent of the market, collapsed and was placed under receivership by the KCB Group in September 2019 over huge debts.
The company is currently shut due to cane shortage and a litany of court cases that have docked its leasing for revival.
The company owes sugarcane growers over Sh700 million for the cane deliveries made years ago.
Nzoia Sugar company in Bungoma county on the other hand owes farmers Sh300 million for cane deliveries.
"It's high time we leaders from this region started thinking about hosting a conference around the sugar industry because sugarcane is our main cash crop and we must find solutions to the ailing sugar sector,” Barasa said.
The said the conference is overdue since sugarcane is the backbone of the region's economy.
He said leaders from other regions are talking about how best their farmers can benefit from cash crops in their regions, and leaders in Western cannot bury their heads in sand and pretend all is well.
The county chief said that most farmers in the region depend on the industry for their livelihoods, adding that urgent solutions are required to reverse the dwindling fortunes in the sugar industry.
Lugari MP Nabii Nabwera has been rallying leaders from Western to unite in pushing for revival of sugar sector irrespective of their political party affiliations.
"Our unity as leaders from Western saved both Nzoia and Mumias sugar companies from being sold to private investors,” he said.
Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe has presented the Sugar Bill 2022 in the National Assembly in an attempt to streamline operations in the industry.