Cane farmers want Oparanya to protect them from exploitation

BY JANE CHEROTICH

KAKAMEGA COUNTY, KENYA: Cane growers from Kakamega County are appealing to Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to hasten intervention measures in the sugar sector to protect them from exploitation.

The farmers want Oparanya to address key issues affecting the sugar sector such as delayed and poor payment by millers.

The Secretary General Kenya National Sugarcane Farmers Union (KENSFU) Simon Wesechere disclosed that a number of farmers are susceptible to cane poaching by resorting to sell their crop (pictured) to alternative millers who offer better prices to cushion them from heavy losses.

He said scores of other farmers have since opted to replace their cane plantations with other food crops.

“The sustainability of firms like Mumias Sugar Company is now threatened because it relies on cane, and if the management of the companies fail to address these issues, the millers will get a very serious shortage of the crop due to their poor performance,” he warned.

UNPAID DUES

Wesechere further disclosed that farmers whose cane was harvested as early as April and June 2013 have not been paid their dues. “We are not ready to give our crop to a buyer who is undermining us and stealing our produce, and our farmers should not be forced to sell their crop to a particular miller since this is a liberal market,” he further lamented.

He said by addressing cane issues he will solve 70 per cent of the problems facing Kakamega County.