Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town

A bitter dispute has erupted between the Awendo based SONYSUGAR Company an the newly established Sukari Millers Ltd over supplies of raw cane for processing.

On Friday last week a fleet of tractors carrying a gang of cane harvesters from the newly established Sukari Millers Limited based in Ndhiwa district and agents of the Awendo-based SONYSUGAR had confronted each other at a farm which is located near Ranen market in Kogelo Sub-Location of Sakwa East Location in Awendo district within Migori County.

The agents, purporting to have been sent by sonysugar company management to stop any outsider from harvesting and transporting raw cane out of its exclusive cane growing zones, provoked the villagers to quickly arm themselves with crude weapons ready for a bloody fight.

A gang of people confronted the tractors and had a plan to puncture their tyres on claims that they were encroaching on SonySugar Company cane growing zones. The youth suspected to have been sent to the scene by agents of SonySugar menacingly threatened to burn the tractors and beat up he drivers, cane cutters and loaders on claims they were trespassing on an area which is within the sugar cane growing zone of SonySugar.

The confrontation almost turned bloody, spurred on by the villagers sympathetic to the owner of the cane farm. It was later established that the farm was contracted not to SonySugar, but an out grower outlet.

As the situation threatened to turn into violence, the police were called. After this, the owner of the cane farm put up his argument that the reason why he wanted his cane to be harvested by Sukari Millers Limited was due to several factors including the price of raw cane per ton. The Ndhiwa based firm is paying out to farmers at Kshs 5,093 whereas SONYSUGAR is still paying the old prices of Kshs 3,500 per ton.

Cane farmers in Awendo cane growing zones also alleged that SonySugar for years has been harvesting cane selectively and corruptively, at time leaving some farmers to go up three or four years without their cane being harvested until the crop become overgrown.

The next incident occurred at Pi Kwar area also within the same location when a farmer Oluoch Okongo’ Gumo who claimed to have invited the SONYSUGAR management to harvest his mature crop for close to one year in vain. He then contacted and invited the management of the Sukari Millers Limited who responded promptly and sent a gang of workers ready to harvest the cane followed by a fleet of tractors ready to have the cane transported to their mill in Ndhiwa.

For the second time within two days people who claimed to be agents of Sony Sugar Company tried in vain to stop the harvesting of Mr Okong’o’s farm. A bitter argument ensued as the police were invited to maintain law and order and peace After documents related to contracting cane farmers in the area were perused it was established that the cane was grown under the non-contracted cane farm program commonly know as out growers. And in pursuit of the existing liberalization the farmer was allowed to have his cane harvested and taken to the Ndhiwa based mill.

The farmer In question had successfully argued his case that he had on many occasions approached the management of SONYSUGAR with the request to have his mature cane harvested in vain, but then needed the money to pay some family overhead.

Residents of the areas, especially the out growers cane farmers from the areas previously classified as SonySugar company cane growing zones, moved in with speed and harmonized the cane harvesting system that would make the two facilities run smoothly without any hitches.

The cut-throat competition which is being witnessed between the two facilities,. They have expressed fear that this would hamper the sugar production in the region. Moreover the newly established Sukari Mills Ltd, is located within only 15 kilometers apart from the existing SonySugar factory.

Ever since its inception in 1977, the multimillion shillings Sony Sugar has had the monopoly of cane growing and harvesting in close to seven administrative districts stretching from Migori, Homa-Bay, Southern Kisii and Narok Counties. This caused laxity and poor planning of cane supplies system due to the fact that farmers who grow cane in most of the areas mentioned above, those unlucky ones have had their cane lost in the field without being harvest.

Due to the excessive arrogance exhibited by SonySugar for not harvesting he cane from the farmers within reasonable time after cane maturity, many farmers became disillusioned and abandoned cane growing for other cash crops with the quick return like tobacco and maize.

On other occasions cane farmers were being subjected to harsh treatment of going for many months, even over a year, without having their cane delivery bill paid in time, thereby contributing to their abject poverty instead of improving their standard of living.

Other complaints raised were that weighbridges in some mills were technically adjusted to be faulty for the purpose of cheating the farmers on the tonnage of their deliveries.

The Awendo-based SonySugar is facing stiffest cut-throat competition from two prong which is threatening to jeopardize its raw cane supplies. Another new white sugar factory, though a medium size, has gone into production at a place called Lang’ata within Trans-Mara district, but only 30 kilometers from Awendo Town.

The new facility s targeting cane grown in Trans-Mara, Southern Kisii and Kuria regions as well as those grown in Migori , Awendo and Rongo districts which were the exclusive monopoly of sonysugar’s cane growing zones. It had contracted close to 27,000 cane farmers.

The Trans-Mara Sugar Company has no nucleus estate farm of its own, but will depend on the out growers farmers. The same could be said of the Sukari Mill Limited in Ndhiwa, The two facilities simultaneously went into production last without proper plan involving the stable source of raw cane supplies. This made SonySugar to breathe fir when it discovered that the two new factories would be relying on canes grown in its exclusive zones.

For a reasonable white sugar to be sustained will require at leas 6,000 hectares of its on exclusive sugar cane growing farms with more than 10,000 hectares within its out growing zones.The KSB regulations and requirements were simply ignored by both investors and planners at the parent ministry.

Meanwhile unconfirmed reports making the round within Awendo and its environs says senior government officials, particularly from the Ministry of Agriculture are said to be involved in the sugar sales scam. The unnamed officials have been offered the sales brokerage altogether with some politicians thereby making it difficult for the local traders to get their supplies.

The names of the officials are used as rubber-stamp in the sales of the bulk of made sugar for which they enjoyed at percentage

The made sugar which is sold in bulk re taken away to far places like Kisii, Kericho Kisumu, and other towns for the local traders to get their supplies at an exorbitant prices, which they in turn sales to the retailers. This has contributed to the on going artificial and acute shortage of sugar in some parts of the country or making it unaffordable commodity by the rural poor population.

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