KAKAMEGA: Sugar-cane farming in western region is slowly dying due to a myriad of challenges affecting the sector. The fortunes of the once-flourishing industry have been diminishing with each passing day, making the farmers to uproot the cane and opt for other crops. The slow death of cane farming is being attributed to poor yields, poor payment, late maturity of cane and political interference. For farmers, Debit Recurred (DR), which implies the farmers have to pay the miller, has forced them to uproot their cane.
“How can I work without pay? Mumias has paralysed farmers because after 18 months of cane being in your farm, you are told to pay the company because you got a debit recurred to the company,” said Lubesia Komesa, a cane farmer in Butere who has started uprooting the crop. He says cane farming has lost its profitability and he has been forced by circumstances to uproot it and go for other crops.
Eunice Ambundo lost her husband last year reportedly due to shock; when he realised that after harvesting 32 stacks of cane from his farm, he being was asked to pay the company. Ms Ambundo said cane farming had subjected her and the family to psychological torture and suffering.
“My husband died of shock when he was told to pay the company. This cannot happen after harvesting 32 stacks. Sugar millers should be serious and must address the challenges they push to farmers,” said Ambundo. It is not only Eunice who lost her husband. Grace Ashianga from Shisisia village also said her father succumbed to high blood pressure after getting a DR.
“We plant cane on our four-and-a-half acres, and the highest amount we have received is Sh100,000. After the last harvest we got a DR. It was painful that it claimed the life of my father,” said Ms Ashianga. Poor payments by millers have seen many other farmers quit the crop to venture into crops that give better returns.
