{"id":12454,"date":"2020-08-07T19:14:43","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=12454"},"modified":"2020-08-07T19:14:43","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T19:14:43","slug":"busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation","title":{"rendered":"Busia farmers, millers oppose KESMA move to lift ban on sugar importation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><strong>Author: Ignatius Odanga<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> Sugarcane farmers and millers from Busia County have opposed a petition by Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association (KESMA) Chairman Jayant Patel to the Ministry of Agriculture to lift the ban on sugar cane importation.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Patel finds himself in a tight corner after he reportedly wrote to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, requesting him to lift the ban on cane importation in favour of Busia Sugar Industry, saying Busia area has experienced acute shortage cane production.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The farmers and millers from the region, have, however, dismissed Patel, saying the move is a scheme to kill local sugarcane production to benefit sugar cartels seeking to smuggle cheap sugar and cane from neighbouring Uganda at the expense of local farmers.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The farmers also dismissed claims by Busia Sugar Industry that it has invested in cane estates in neighbouring Uganda.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They slammed the Busia-based firm for shifting goal post in a move they claimed was meant to benefit illegal importers, adding that the firm had strongly supported Zoning.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cBusia Sugar Company were among those fighting for Zoning. So what has happened between last year and today? I wonder if Uganda was part of their Zoning,\u201d said Olepito Sugar Factory general manager Gerald Okoth.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Okoth faulted Patel for failing to consult stakeholders and members of the association before writing to the ministry.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cStakeholders and members were not consulted and don\u2019t support the lifting of the importation ban on the cane.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0Farmers have also dismissed as false reports that there was a shortage of cane in Busia, the firm was out to kill local production.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>They accused the firm of failing to develop local production and instead rely on cheap cane from Uganda.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThere is no sugarcane shortage in the region, if there is any, it has been created by Busia Sugar Industry that has heavily relied on cheap importation from Uganda,\u201d said George Okwara, a local farmer.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Okwara, accused KMSA of working with cartels to fleece local cane farmers, adding that the firm reduced tonnage prices for farmers because it was importing from Uganda.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Amakura Central MCA Moses Ouma who is also a cane farmer wonders why Busia Sugar Industries and Patel support importation of cane from Uganda they opposed cane Zoning.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The farmers also questioned the awarding of business licensing and permit to Busia Sugar Industry yet it doesn\u2019t invest in local cane development but rather import cheap cane from Uganda which retails at Sh2,000 per tonnage compared to Kenya\u2019s Sh3,700.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cA tonne is Sh2000 in Uganda. If you allowed me to import, obviously I\u2019ll take from Uganda thereby killing local production since local tonnage is Sh3,700.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The farmers said they support CS Munya\u2019s move to ban the importation of cheap sugar from Uganda, adding that only drought or famine can warrant importation of cane.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cThere is a huge glut of sugarcane in Uganda and farmers are willing to dump their cane below their cost of production to recover anything they can,\u201d said Ouma.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The called on the government to investigate operation licences of companies that don\u2019t have the cane.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author: Ignatius Odanga AfricaPress-Kenya: Sugarcane farmers and millers from Busia County have opposed a petition by Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association (KESMA) Chairman Jayant Patel to the Ministry of Agriculture to lift the ban on sugar cane importation. Patel finds himself in a tight corner after he reportedly wrote to Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya, requesting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[3350,5103],"class_list":["post-12454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","tag-agriculture-cabinet-secretary-peter-munya","tag-chairman-jayant-patel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Busia farmers, millers oppose KESMA move to lift ban on sugar importation - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sugarcane farmers and millers from Busia County have opposed a petition by Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association (KESMA) Chairman Jayant Patel to the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Busia farmers, millers oppose KESMA move to lift ban on sugar importation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sugarcane farmers and millers from Busia County have opposed a petition by Kenya Sugar Manufacturers Association (KESMA) Chairman Jayant Patel to the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-07T19:14:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Busia farmers, millers oppose KESMA move to lift ban on sugar importation\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-07T19:14:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\"},\"wordCount\":527,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya\",\"Chairman Jayant Patel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/all-news\/busia-farmers-millers-oppose-kesma-move-to-lift-ban-on-sugar-importation\",\"name\":\"Busia farmers, millers oppose KESMA move to lift ban on sugar importation - 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