Kenya finds itself in a tight position and only has itself to blame. It appears that none of the solutions it is adopting to tame the fast-rising sugar prices are working.
As such, consumers will continue to pay record prices for the sweetener that has breached the Sh450-mark for a two-kilo packet in some outlets.
The latest failed solution is the imports from India. The world’s second-largest sugar producer has capped exports at six million tonnes, owing to a sharp drop in production.
Ordinarily, Kenya would look to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa to plug the local output deficit. But the bloc is also facing a shortage.
This leaves Kenya with little choice but to rely on costly imports from Uganda, where a tonne costs Sh117,848 compared to India’s Sh66,324.
But how did Kenya find itself in this precarious position? The sector’s woes are as old as the republic.
Kenya’s preference for short-term solutions to long-term ones has meant that attempts to implement long-lasting reforms in the industry over the years have failed.
The only way to ensure Kenyan consumers are not at the mercy of external markets is to implement long-lasting reforms in the sugar industry to boost local production.
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