Sugar
Cane farmers have a reason to smile once more after the government approved a revised price of cane per ton from Sh4950 to Sh5000.
The new price takes effect immediately as from today August 22 and is aligned to the prevailing market conditions, taking into account fluctuation in sugar price production costs and also global trade dynamics. Agriculture and Livestock Development Cabinet Secretary (CS), Dr. Andrew Mwihia Karanja, announced this in a statement last evening, following the sugar cane prices Committee meeting, whose mandate is setting and reviewing sugar cane prices.
According to the CS, the new prices will further enhance farmer’s income. Kenyan cane farming was once vibrant, but it has been dwindling with local millers and government experiencing income challenges through crisis, leading to a negative impact on the national economy.
The Government through various strategies has seen the revival of the sugarcane farming and production, beginning with President William Ruto writing-off debt owed by sugar firms, bringing back sugarcane as a key crop in the country and also attracting investors to private sugar mills,
Sugarcane. The government has revised the price upwards.
The increase in production currently, is also as a result of cane management, the increased rains, and intervention by the government, to provide subsidized fertilizer to farmers, which has seen high yields of almost 40 per cent from the previous production.
Just last week during the launch of the Agriculture Food Authority Strategic Plan 2023/2027, Dr. Karanja said the Country has after a long time now flipped from being a net importer and is now going to be a net exporter of sugar. Principal Secretary (PS) Dr. Dr. Paul Ronoh confirmed that the sugar sector is currently the most aligned sector, saying that the transformation plan has worked through the AFA reforms.
He explained that the Country has enough sugar to produce for local consumption and that the latest production stands at 83.5 tons per month, against 80 tons of what was needed.
“We have excess. We can export now and this has never happened, and that Kenya can produce enough sugar for their local consumption and also can have space to export, these are the AFA reforms to the sugar sector, which have worked,” PS Rono emphasized.
The sugar industry has been ailing with factories closing shop due to poor production and also prices. President William Ruto in October last year said that the Government would lease sugar factories, in a bid to revive the sector.
The government has been implementing programmes for a sustainable sugar industry growth and development through a sub sector policy formulation, a need that was informed by the enactment and implementation of the Crops Act No. 16 (2013) and Agriculture and Food Act No. 13 (AFA).
The Policy developed guidelines to facilitate revitalization needed, for sustainable sugar and other allied industries growth and development. It identified the salient relationships and linkages between the key stakeholders in the sugar industry, as well as provided a framework to guide specific policy interventions, key one being Government share exchange.