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{
"id": 1490597,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1490597/?format=api",
"text_counter": 91,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Close to this is Clause 38 of this Bill, which talked broadly about the sugarcane development levy that is tied together with Clause 39 which ends up establishing the sugarcane development fund. This fund used to be in the defunct sugarcane board, but it was not broadened enough to help the plight of farmers. This one establishes some ways of supporting farmers when they have planted their sugarcane and have contracts with millers and after that, they can benefit in different ways. For instance, I will be happy when Migori farmers get bonuses and loans from different millers, if the sugarcane development fund can allow millers to give them some bonuses and loans. If you think about it, one of the problems that we have for farmers is that sugarcane takes up to 18 months to mature. During that time, the farmer would have spent so much time on the farm yet, they have problems with school fees. Sometimes, they have medical problems that need a lot of money, and it is so difficult for them to get loans from traditional banks or any other source of financing. If this fund is made to function, they can now go to their millers and even seek vouchers to take their kids to school, as they wait for harvesting. At the end of the day when they harvest, they can pay back once they get their cut and benefit they will get once they sell their sugarcane. There is also a very important function that this will help with, which is what I have seen in Migori County, particularly in Awendo and Rapogi areas. Sometimes, farmers are forced to cut and harvest their sugarcane early, then sell them to jaggery millers because they do not have money. This fund will now allow farmers to wait until their sugarcane matures well and give them the best returns. Lastly, on sugarcane development fund, the hardest part of sugarcane is developing seed cane. Currently, in the sugar industry, seed cane is being developed by KALRO, which is tasked with many other seed developments. We do not have an industry-specific function to help with seed cane development. This fund combined with Clause 28 and 27 that establishes Kenya Sugar Research and Training Institute will enable, for the first time, the sugar industry to develop seed cane for farmers that will make them have the best seeds possible. So, this is a very laudable clause of this Bill. One of the regulations that will be furthered from this Bill is the problem of leasing in a broader way to combine with this idea of the sugar development fund. The idea of forcing millers to lease the milling facilities is because several problems come about when there is no proper management. This fund will help us solve that problem. This is because for you to have a good miller, they use the efficiency ratio. The efficiency ratio is whereby if you put 10 tonnes of cane and try to crush it as a miller, you must get one tonne of sugar. That is not a management problem, but an efficiency problem. You should not force millers to lease their facilities just because of a management problem. Another problem that is facing millers with regards to these leasing problems is the issue of pricing, which has always been left to the importation distortion of sugar. However, the good thing about this Bill is that for the first time, it has established a Sugar Research and Training Institute that will help us think about technologies on sucrose content of cane. If this Bill goes through, going forward, the sugar industry should not use importation and price sugar as the price of cane, but use sucrose content as the tool for The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}