Fire razes 45 tonnes of Mumias sugarcane

Some of the sugarcane that was gutted at Mumias Sugar Company nucleus estate in what is a suspected arson attack.

A fire gutted more than seven acres of sugarcane at Mumias Sugar Company's nucleus estate on Wednesday evening.

The company was left counting losses of more than 45 tonnes of sugarcane that would have been harvested.

According to the firm’s agriculture manager Boniface Makhandia, the fire was reported by security officers on patrol and put off by Mumias Sugar Company workers. “We were informed of smoke coming from block F in Busambe area. We put the fire off before it burnt the whole estate," said Mr Makhandia.

The company management said it had earlier received intelligence that some individuals who were opposed to the recent sale of sugarcane to other local millers had planned an arson attack.

From late last year, the company has opted to sell mature sugarcane from its nucleus estate to other millers.

The miller in February last year lost more than Sh14 million when sugarcane in 500 acres was burnt in six separate fire incidents.

The latest fire has already been reported at Mumias police station. No arrests have been made.

Mumias West Sub-county police commander Peter Kattam yesterday said investigations were underway to establish the cause of the fire.

Mumias Sugar Company was placed under receivership by Kenya Commercial Bank. It is being managed by Ponangipalli Venkata Ramana Rao.

The firm is in the process of producing ethanol.