Farmers have rejected the new lower average price of sugarcane delivered to various millers and vowed to boycott supplies to the factory starting today.
The Sugarcane Pricing Committee-- an autonomous committee comprising the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers, millers, and sugar-producing counties-- has cut cane prices to Sh4,950 per tonne in August, marking a further drop since the start of the year and chopping earnings to farmers but handing relief to consumers of the sweeter on lower retail prices.
This marks a decline from a price of Sh5,125 per tonne in June. In February a tonne of sugarcane was priced at Sh6,100 which means that the cost of the raw material has fallen by 18.85 percent over the six months to August.
“Following the expiry of the interim cane pricing committee and in the absence of a Cabinet Secretary to appoint the same, the price for cane per tonne in the interim for the month of August is guided at Sh4,950,” Jude Chesire, the acting director at the Sugar Directorate and secretary of the pricing committee, said in a letter to farmers.
AFA attributes the drop in sugarcane prices to a glut in production.
The Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (KNFSF) however rejected the new prices and vowed to boycott sugarcane supplies to factories.
“We will take as long as it takes for the government to act on our demands. Farmers cannot continue operating in an environment where we don’t get value for our hard-earned effort,” KNFSF national treasurer Stephen Ole Narupa said.
AFA chairman Cornelly Serem last week said that ample rains and the State fertiliser subsidy saw a sharp increase in cane production.
“Last year, we were crushing about 17,000 tonnes in a month. Now, we are crushing about 80,000 tonnes monthly due to the availability of cane in the market,” he said. Mr Narupa however blamed AFA for failing to regulate the sugar sub-sector.
“The regulator poses the biggest threat and is responsible for flooding our market with imported sugar, effectively turning our country into a dumping ground for foreign products,” he said yesterday.
“After enabling this influx, they quickly convene meetings to reduce the price of local sugarcane, undermining our farmers and promoting foreign interests,” Mr Narupa said.
The Kenya Association of Sugarcane and Allied Products (KASAP) petitioned the State to freeze the latest lower prices.
“Considering the amount of money farmers spend in the production of sugarcane, selling a tonne of sugarcane at Sh4,950 is unsustainable and will push us out of business,” the association chairman Charles Atiang’ said.
“We call on the sugar regulator to consider the cost of production to realise a win-win strategy for both the players,” the KASAP official appealed.
Mr Atiang’ claimed that some millers minted huge profits by producing other by-products like molasses, ethanol, and bagasse while only pegging the price of sugarcane on sugar.
“Other than this, the millers are also involved in the business of transport and provide farm inputs to farmers at exorbitant prices,” he said.
