The government's plan to privatise state-owned sugar mills in the Lake region is on course and will soon be effected, Agriculture PS Paul Ronoh has said.
He said on Monday the government is moving forward with the leasing of Nzoia, Chemilil, Sony and Muhoroni sugar mills in an attempt to revive them.
The PS said farmers and workers who have not received their pay will have the arrears cleared in three months as promised by the government.
“We want to bring these mills back on track for the benefit of the locals and that can only be achieved by allowing a private investor to take over," Rono said.
He was speaking at Kibabii University in Bungoma county during the opening of the pre-Madaraka Day agricultural exhibition.
Rono assured farmers top dressing fertiliser is in plenty at the National Cereals and Produce Board.
“There were outcries that farmers in this region were missing the top dressing fertiliser at the cereals board. We tried our level best to sort out the issue and our farmers are now accessing the input,” he said.
He said the delay was due to the raging floods that occurred in many parts of the country.
On the distribution of fake fertiliser and counterfeit seeds, Rono said the government is vigilant to wipe them out from the market.
Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa urged the national government to fully devolve the agriculture sector.
He said the sector cannot be dealt with at the national level due to the diverse challenges faced by different counties.
“Going forward, we need a conversation about what is the best place to be funded to procure fertiliser. We will partner on policy but when it comes to procuring fertiliser, let it be fully devolved since counties have different soil aspects,” Barasa said.
Barasa said county governments have programmes that involve distribution of certified seeds to farmers.
For instance in Kakamega county, 120,000 bags of 25kg of planting fertiliser, 120,000 bags of 25kgs of top dressing fertiliser and 103,240 of 2kg packets of certified maize seeds and fish feed valued at Sh9 million were procured for the current financial year.
“Fertiliser is one of the key inputs for improving productivity. In counties, we are largely promoting conservative agriculture to deal with climate change,” Barasa said.
He clarified the 14 counties that form the Lake Region Economic Bloc will benefit from the fertiliser plant that has been established in Matawa, Mumias West constituency, in Kakamega county.
“On the county subsidised fertiliser, we ensure the products reach residents up to the grassroots level. Distribution is adequate in most centres because it goes down to the ward level as opposed to earlier distribution challenges,” he said.
Also present were Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka, Deputy Governor Janepher Mbatiany, CECs, chief officers and other senior government officials.
