Cane farmers petition ministers over sugar smuggling racket
Farmers applying fertiliser at a sugarcane farm in Ikolomani, Kakamega County.
What you need to know:
- The smuggled sugar is repackaged in smaller quantities without safety checks, ending up in shops and supermarket shelves.
- The concerns come a week after the Agriculture CS lamented that farmers were suffering at the hands of cartels.
Cane farmers have petitioned three cabinet secretaries to step in and help curb the influx of cheap sugar in the country, amid revelations that smuggling cartels are transporting the sweetener from neighbouring Uganda to secret stores in Busia town using boda boda riders.
Disgruntled growers in the Western region have petitioned Interior CS Fred Matiang’i, Agriculture’s Peter Munya and Industrialisation CS Betty Maina to crack down on the smugglers.
“The availability of cheap sugar whose original source remains a mystery has resulted in distortion of the sugar market in Kenya,” the growers stated on Tuesday.
Apart from Busia, the sugar is also smuggled into Kenya from neighbouring countries through Kwale, Trans Nzoia, Kajiado, Narok, Migori, Marsabit, Garissa and Mandera counties.
The sugar is then repackaged in smaller quantities without safety checks, ending up in shops and supermarket shelves.
Farmers in the Western region are questioning why the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and police have failed to crack down on the sugar cartels.
“The silence by the critical government agencies, including KRA, DCI, NPS (National Police Service) and intelligence services about the ongoing sugar smuggling is deafening,” the grower said in a petition presented through the Western regional commissioner.
Importation of sugar
“It is also shocking that politicians from sugar growing regions have remained silent on this matter,” the petition stated.
While the Agriculture CS Peter Munya had banned importation of sugar and raw sugarcane from Uganda in July 2020, the growers said in their petition that smuggling had increased.
“Cheap sugar has been, and still is, coming into Kenya through various borders day and night. We sent a passionate appeal to the national government to stop cheap sugar from outside making entry into Kenya,” they stated.
They said detectives should unravel the exact source of the sugar because the farmers were not convinced that Uganda was the producer.
“If Uganda has excess sugar as is currently believed, why are convoys of Ugandan lorries crossing the border daily to collect molasses from Kenyan factories?” posed the farmers in the petition.
The concerns come a week after the Agriculture CS lamented that farmers were suffering at the hands of cartels.
Among others, the petitioners note that sugar smuggling means locally manufactured sugar does not sell as Kenyans opt for cheaper sugar. The effect is that local factories are unable to break even and pay farmers for the crop.
