Stop poaching of sugarcane, county chief tells millers
Western Regional Commissioner Irungu Macharia has urged sugar millers in western Kenya to self-regulate to resolve the stand-off surrounding poaching of cane.
Speaking during a meeting with the millers, some farmers and the security team from the Western region, the county chief said lack of enough cane has forced some millers to poach and even sometimes harvest immature cane.
He urged millers to invest in cane crop that could sustain their factories, warning that poaching would not be allowed.
Macharia asked millers to operate within their catchment areas, adhere to Ton of Cane Per Day (TCD) per factory, pay farmers on time, take care of farmers’ welfare and adhere to standard cane supply contracts.
“As we review the contracts, sugar millers are supposed to submit to the Sugar Directorate, a register of registered, contracted sugarcane farmers and you have up to February 1st to share the inventory of farmers,” he added.
During the meeting, millers raised concern about other millers poaching the cane they had invested in, making them lose millions of shillings in investment.
The RC said the security team, will be on standby to enforce the regulations, to bring sanity in the sugar sector and asked all millers, to partner with the National Government Administration Officers(NGAO), to sensitize farmers against poaching, in order to improve sugarcane industry.
Source Link: https://www.pd.co.ke/news/stop-poaching-of-sugarcane-county-chief-tells-millers-218243/
