Over 10,000 contracted sugarcane farmers want Transmara Sugar Company to allow them to sell their mature crop to other millers.
The farmers are citing numerous breakdowns of the Kilgoris-based firm.
They said that the lapse in operations has made them incur huge losses following delays in harvesting their crops for up to 28 months.
The Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers (KNFSF) Transmara Branch Chairman Stephen ole Narupa blamed the miller for failing to conduct annual factory maintenance for the past four years.
“For six days now, the company has not been milling. The firm should now let farmers whose crops are ready for harvesting to sell their produce to other millers,” he told Nation on Tuesday.
He said that over 14,000 tonnes of sugarcane are lying in various fields and the factory yards awaiting to be crushed.
Mr Narupa accused the company management of failing to communicate with the farmers whose crop continue to rot in the fields.
“The management should be overhauled if it is not competent enough to manage the operations of the company,” said Mr Narupa who is also the KNFSF national treasurer.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Frederick North Coombes, while acknowledging that the company had experienced a number of unforeseen breakdowns in May this year, appealed with farmers and other stakeholders to be patient as the company works to resolve the problems.
“The factory has experienced a number of unforeseen breakdowns recently which negatively impacts harvesting as well as sugar production. The management is taking all measures to reduce this downtime which affects all of us,” he said.
The private miller also indicated that the above normal rainfall recorded this year adversely affected their operations, leading to huge losses. Compared to the same period last year, the Transmara Sugar Company boss indicated that they witnessed 66 per cent higher than normal rainfall.
“This is outside the control of the company and our farmers and has reduced the ability to transport cane volumes compared to normal conditions resulting in an increase in age,” he said.
He said that the excess rainfall has increased equipment breakdowns due to road damages while increased moisture content and mud has reduced sugar production in the factory.
