By Winsley Masese
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) safeguards will be lifted in 2012, paving way for sugar imports from the trading bloc into the Kenyan market.
With the cost of sugar production in Kenya continuously eating into millers’ profit margins, imports from within the Comesa regime will pose stiff competition to the local industry.
To address the challenge, the Government is betting on privatisation of state-owned sugar millers to increase their competitiveness.
There are also efforts to develop fast-maturing cane varieties to help farmers optimise their earning per harvest. Dr John Rono, the assistant director crop development at the Kenya Sugar Research Foundation (Kesref), says they are developing early maturing cane varieties with a gestation period of between nine and 15 months.
Currently, most cane varieties mature at between 20 to 24 months. In extreme cases, however, farmers in parts of Migori wait for up 30 to 60 months before their cane is harvested.
In 2007, Kesref developed D-8484 for trials in Mumias sugar belt, a new sugar cane seed variety that matures in about 14 months.
Farmers have, however, expressed reservations about the fast-maturing breeds, saying in case of a delayed harvest, the loss is even more.
Harvested on time
Vitalis Ogola, the agriculture manager at Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries, says while farmers welcome the new breed, they also want a guarantee that their crop will be harvested on time before its wastes away.
"Some of farmers fear any delay in harvesting will cause unprecedented losses as the crop also ages fast," Ogola says, adding that privatisation of the sugar millers will bring the necessary capital and skill required to run the sugar sector.
He says besides making timely harvests, millers also need to pay farmers promptly.
"Only this way, will they be able to adopt the early maturing cane as they would be driven by the need to make more money," Ogola says.
Ahead of the expiry of the Comesa safeguards, the Government has also upped the stakes in the sector, as it trains its sights on the Coastal region to boost crop yield.
According to Rono, research proves that sugar cane takes 9 - 12 months to mature at the Coast, compared to over 20 months in other sugar-growing zones.
He says that when subjected to the various weather and soil conditions, sugar cane clones grown in parts of the Coast matures much faster compared to that grown in parts of Nyanza and Western province.
Similar world trends show that commercial sugar production has always been based in low altitude areas and it is only in Kenya where the production of the crop is done in high altitude regions.
It is such traits that Kenya now seeks to exploit, to make sugar cane production in the coastal region favourable.
Already, work is afoot to revive Ramisi Mill.
With the fast maturing seed variety, and favourable, farmers can produce the crop twice a season. This is expected to deficit in the market.
Presently, local sugar production stands unfavourably at 500,000 tonnes against annual consumption of 700,000 tonnes.
With research developing early maturing cane varieties for sugar belts in Nyanza and Western provinces, Rono is optimistic the 200,000-tonne annual sugar deficit will be plugged.
Mounting fears
However, even as a raft of measures are instituted to address the dwindling fortunes in the sugar sector, there are growing fears sugar growing may not be as paying at the Coast.
This is especially critical as the country transitions its pricing scheme from tonnage to sucrose content.
Noting that the sugar cane crop at the Coast may not be as rich in sucrose content, Rono says in mitigation, farmers can make two harvests in a season.
