Kenyan sugar is more expensive than sugar from… well, everywhere else really. According to Suleiman Murunga, a former Chairman of Nzoia Sugar Company (and now an MP for Kimilili) - therefore qualifies as a real expert in this field; the reasons why Kenyan sugar is expensive is because of:
[ol]
[li]Using sugarcane varieties that take forver to mature[/li][li]Failing to invest in better-yielding sugarcane varieties[/li][li]Using archaic and outdated cane processing machinery. This machinery keeps breaking down, necessitating closure for maintenance(sometimes for months on end) of virtually dead equipment; leading to wastage of both and time and raw crop[/li][li]Depending on an equally old and slow transportation system[/li][li]Spillage of cane during transportation[/li][li]Financial mismanagement (read corruption)[/li][/ol]
“As a former chairman of Nzioa Sugar Company, I can state, without fear of contradiction, that the problems lie with the poor and unprofessional way we man-age our sugar industry. Indeed, viewed against other sugar producing countries in the Comesa region and the rest of the world, Kenya has the worst managed sugar production system.”, says Mr Murunga.
Your article today was very informative. However, it only dealt with Mumias. Why then, are the other brands of local sugar also expensive? Is Kidero less to blame or rather only partly to blame as illustrated in the above numbered points?
They both point to the fact that we need to invest in new varieties of cane. But they are split to emphasize that we not only need high-yielding cane (how much juice you can squeeze out of a cane), but also fast-maturing cane (hapana kungoja miaka mbili).
And yes, serikali kila kitu. How does a small-scale peasant farmer prosecute Kidero; or even know that Kidero aliiba in the first place? How does a small-scale farmer even know that there is cane that yields better, faster? The government has simply not done enough. Period!! Na tusianze na ya Kamwana - hata miwa ilipandwa akiingia ndiyo sasa iko kwa supermarket. What did Raila do? What did Musalia do? What did Khalwale do?