This archive report was first published on 3 July 2020.
As the sugarcane harvest season approaches, farmers in Busia County are facing a crisis. The importation of sugarcane from Uganda by millers in the region has left them with nowhere to sell their crop, resulting in significant financial losses.
At least 50 trucks and 70 lorries bearing Ugandan registration numbers cross the border daily, delivering cane to factories in western Kenya. This has frustrated farmers from four constituencies, who claim that local millers are opting for cheaper sugarcane from Uganda.
Francisca Apondi, a contracted farmer from Bukhakhala in Butula Constituency, is worried about how she will repay a bank loan she acquired to cultivate sugarcane on her four-acre piece of land. Her harvested cane has been rotting in her farm since early last month.
"I have tried all means to ensure the cane is collected to no avail. I feel very bad when I see sugarcane being imported into the country whenever I am in Busia. The government needs to save us because millers are now going for cheap raw materials from Uganda," she said.
According to The Standard, a tonne of cane is procured from Uganda at Sh1,500, while in Busia, the same goes for between Sh3,500 and Sh3,700. This has led to a significant loss for farmers in the region.
Busia Sugar Industries and West Kenya’s Olepito Sugar Factory in Busia were given a window to import the raw material from Uganda last August.
