KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 27 – Three private sugar mills have applied with the Agriculture Food Authority (AFA) to be allowed to crush cane in the wake of a blanket ban to allow sugarcane to mature.
AFA chairman Cornelly Serem says the crushing ban still stands and mills will be allowed to start crushing in December this year.
“We envisaged that the period under the ban is enough for the majority of cane in the plantation to mature,” he said.
However, he says the three applications will be looked into and a decision given based on an individual’s mill.
By next week, he announced, a team of AFA officials will be on the ground to confirm the availability of cane in their regions.
“The mills that have applied to AFA to be allowed to crush include Kibos, Busia and Olepito sugar factories,” he said.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu on Tuesday during a meeting with sugar millers in the country, Serem says the three mills will be allowed to crush if they demonstrate the availability of cane in their areas.
“We are flexible, if we have information on availability of cane, then we will allow them to continue crushing,” he said.
Serem who is a former Aldai MP says most factories in the past were harvesting immature cane hence farmers were losing millions of shillings.
He noted that the country will strive not to return to the situation where it finds itself in.
The chairman dismissed claims that the government closed factories to be able to import sugar, noting that there is no cane to be crushed.
“By December 1st, we will allow mills to operate but gradually until June next year when it will now be full-blast,” he said.
Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association (KESMA) Chairman Jayant Patel says they are in agreement with AFA to wait until December, save for the three mills, so as to allow cane to mature.
“By December, cane in the farms will be between 16 to 18 months, which is viable to mill and get good sugar,” he said.
Patel says they are working closely with the government to ensure the revival of the sugar industry is a success.
Serem further announced that the country is facing challenges to import sugar from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries owing to the global drought experienced in the past.
“Even those we gave licenses to import, they are also facing a challenge to supply the commodity to this country, there is not much sugar outside there,” he said.
The chairman noted that every year the country used to import 282,000 metric tonnes of sugar, which is now falling short.
He says from January to date, only 85,000 metric tonnes of sugar have been imported into the country while telling Kenyans to brace for shortage of sugar in the supermarket shelves.
