Sugarcane Farmers opt for Alternatives as Market Uncertainty in the Sugar Industry Thrives

Majority of sugarcane farmers across the sugar belts sections of Coast, South Nyanza, Western, and Nyando have shifted from cane farming to other crop alternatives as a result of market uncertainty and the influx importation of cheap sugar into the country.

The widening rift in sugar inadequacy and the gradual failing of the millers due to huge debts has pushed cane farmers into eyeing other farming options.

According to the Deputy Secretary-General of the Kenya Federation of Sugarcane Farmers, Atiang’ Atyang’, cane farmers around the areas of Kopere in Nandi and Muhoroni are venturing into coffee farming as others diversify into dairy farming.

“We can attest that not less than 500 farmers have resolved to coffee farming and a significant number are eyeing dairy farming. The problems in the sugar industry have driven into poverty and people are looking for better alternatives of earning an income,” said Atyang’.

Other areas that the farmers are venturing into include maize, soya and poultry farming as other farmers are disposing of off their lands to run away from poverty. More farmers who are still hopeful in the industry are integrating other crops in the plantations to supplement their income.

Despite the hopeful prospects of the sugar industry, other individuals are having a hard time waiting for two to three years to harvest their canes only to be turned down or ripped off by the dying millers.

Only a decade ago, sugarcane acreage stood at more than 200,000 hectares, but currently, the size has dropped by 50 percent. Consequently, the local millers’ capacity has taken a nose dive from 35,000 tons of sugarcane a day to a mere 3,000.

The state is much worse than it looks. Mumias Sugar Company was once the largest miller with a crushing capacity of nine thousand tons of sugarcane, but contrary to the expectations due to the 1.5 billion shillings bailout in 2017, the miller manages only a thousand tons.

As farmers continue to pull away from the industry, the acute deficit continues to be experienced, something which has forced the harvesting of the late maturing sugarcane of 22 months after only a year.

Meanwhile, as the factories blame the farmers for the shortage of sugar, most of their machines remain obsolete and this has left them fighting for the available cane as private millers offering better pay threaten to sweep them out of operation.

The costs of production are out of control and lots of funds are going down the drain in efforts to revamp and revive the operations. More than 10 billion shillings, which were meant for sugarcane development seem to have disappeared. Still, there is no report yet on an audit commissioned a decade ago.

The millers are not only struggling with capacity, the efficiency and the failure of diversification or the utilization of their bioproduct is keeping them on verge of breaking down. They are experiencing thin profit margins that forces them to rely on bailouts to fill their financial gaps.

They are rolling in debts and write-offs from the state isn’t doing much. Even the proposed 86 billion write off aimed at rejuvenating the industry will not be able to allow them to regain their original working state.

Michael Arum, of the Sugar Campaign for Change, says that the 2 billion shillings and the 300 million shillings spent on Mumias and Chemelil sugar companies to settle farmer’s debts have not done much to prevent them from perpetually being on the edge of collapsing.

Although the government seems to care about settling the financial statements of the industry, it isn’t conclusively aware of all the challenges the sector faces and everything that needs to be done to revive operations.

The recommendation is that the government fund short-term renovation, make a lump sum contribution to settle the debts and hand over the millers to private companies or investors under a privatization program. The big picture is to save the industries and ensure farmers get a constant market for sugarcane, otherwise, the industry will soon be as good as dead.