New regulations hailed on contractual farming bid
By Apollo Abraham
The gazettement of Crops General Regulation Act 2020 has excited sugarcane stakeholders in Nyando belt and Western region block raising hope that industries could soon roar back to life.
Among other things, the new regulations root for contractual farming in a bid to promote free market of the primary raw material of the sweetener hoping to build confidence among growers who abandoned the crop.
Sugarcane farmers converging at Awasi, Kisumu county said the new rules will revive large scale production of the sweetener at previously abandoned plantations.
Speaking to Business Hub, James Lwala the chairman of Nyando Delta said over10,000 acres of land which is currently idle since the collapse of Miwani Sugar Company in 2001 will now be utilised due to favorable terms in the new regulations.
In South Nyanza, Gilbert Ochenge a farmer from Suna East said “the initiative that proposes that trustees should be formed within respective mills to lease out State Mills is for the interest of the community”.
Daniel Orwa, chair of Muhoroni Farmers Cooperative Society added “I call on the national and county governments to develop access roads to reduce cases of breakdowns of equipment during rainy seasons.”
Speaking in Malava, cane farmers said that the new regulation will promote competition and encourage private millers to set up weigh bridges near their farms and greatly reduce cost of transporting the canes.
