Fourteen sugar cane growing counties will next month converge in Kakamega for the first ever sugar conference to address the ailing subsector.
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa has revealed that the sugar conference seeks to come up with proposals for establishing structures for long-term reforms in the subsector.
"After consultation with my colleagues in the Lake Region Economic Bloc, Kakamega county will be hosting the first ever sugar conference on September 8, 2023. We shall invite all stakeholders on board to submit their contributions on the sector,” Barasa said.
Barasa spoke on Thursday when he oversaw signing of performance contracts by executive members of the county government.
The county boss reiterated the need to improve the sugar industry amid suspension of sugar cane milling for the next four months.
“We want to have an honest conversation with all stakeholders so that we come up with a blueprint which will inform policy directions together with the national government so that we get a sustainable solution,” he said.
The fourteen counties expected to be present at the conference are Kakamega, Nandi, Homa Bay, Bungoma, Busia, Bomet, Vihiga, Trans Nzoia, Kisumu, Migori, Kisii, Narok, Siaya and Kericho.
He added that a number of sugar factories in LREB have been struggling for the past few months, citing an example of the embattled Mumias Sugar.
The calls for a sugar conference were made on the backdrop of successful tea and coffee conferences, which have initiated a discussion by the stakeholders aimed at solving problems in the subsectors.
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.
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 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.
