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{
    "id": 763218,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/763218/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 144,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Omulele",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2145,
        "legal_name": "Christopher Omulele",
        "slug": "christopher-omulele"
    },
    "content": "managed by the Authority. For a long time in this country the farmer has not been paid. Under this Authority, we also have licences issued to importers of sugar in this country. We have sugar imported from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region under what is called COMESA safeguards. These safeguards are now coming to a close. The coming to a close of the COMESA safeguards portends the real death to sugar-cane farming in this country. Why do I say this? Under the COMESA safeguards, the sugar authority in the country said we had a shortfall in the production of sugar. Importation was heavily abused by the people at the Sugar Board who were issuing licences to briefcase businessmen who would later on sell those licences to people who have the capacity to bring in the sugar. These people bring in sugar beyond the limit which has been set by the Sugar Board. The Sugar Board and the Authority did not take time to police and ensure that the licences that they had issued to those people were being adhered to. Therefore, this is one of the reasons why sugar that was being protected under these safeguards was not actually safeguarded. That is why the farmer in Mumias could not get paid. When he delivered sugar to the miller, his sugar was milled and it became even more expensive than the sugar that had been imported under this safeguard regime that was supposed to protect this farmer. Therefore, my proposal is that as much as this issue has been eating us for a long time, we must take it seriously as a national issue and probably set up a serious inquiry into the real reasons why our sugar farming and sugar production in this country is not doing well. We must face the real reasons why our sugar production in this country is going downhill. By the end of these safeguards, we are going to see real death of sugar production in this country. If we are serious and we set up that inquiry, which I hope we shall do, it must also go into the issue of how we produce our sugar. Sugar production in this country is done on small scale basis. Farmers have small holdup pieces of land; probably an acre, half an acre, two acres or five acres. The most that I have seen is probably 10 to 20 acres in Mumias, especially where there is a lot of pressure on land. Sugar-cane production requires massive land. We must look at the structure of land ownership. That is why I was excited and I thought I must speak to this matter because the Motion before this one was speaking to the issue of land ownership and land use policy in this country. These two matters must be married so that we look and treat sugar production in this country together with the land ownership regime. We must look at it if we are serious about producing sugar. I come from Western Kenya, and I know Mumias quite well. A lot of land is under fencing. Our people have subdivided our land to such small pieces that are uneconomic in the production. This is a problem we must face. We must agree that if we are going to produce, then we may have to come up with a radical way to consolidate land so that we can produce sugar at an economic scale. If we are going to plant more fences on land than the sugar-cane itself, then we cannot be competitive. I have been very passionate about the matter of sugar because sugar has been the cash crop for the people of Western Kenya but today farmers have not been paid for years. When the little money arrives to sort out a few things, a lot of that The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}