(PHOTO CREDITS: Courtesy SMART24TV)
Dealers in sugarcane products are facing a precarious future after Kenya announced it was banning imports from Uganda.
Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya this past week said they are trying to prop up their struggling sugar sector, which has suffered due to competition from the neighbouring markets.
As of now, trucks ferrying sugarcane to Kenya have queued up at the Busia border point, which has led to signicant losses, considering the ban was announced abruptly.
Some have been at the border for as many as five days.
Uganda started exporting sugarcane to Kenya, following bilateral talks between President Museveni and Uhuru Kenyatta, in which it was agreed that Uganda sells its surplus sugarcane to the Busia Sugar factory in western Kenya.
Although the agreement came with stringent measures, Uganda’s out-growers had strived to fulfil them up to date. According to the deal, Uganda would export between 36,000 tonnes and 90,000 tonnes of sugar annually to Kenya.
The minister of trade, industry and cooperatives recently said that Uganda has a good sugar market with a surplus of 48,000 metrics tonnes. In April, Uganda scored a deal to supply brown sugar to Tanzania.
“Our Sugar Industry comprises of 11 functional Sugar Mills producing 510,000 metric tonnes and consumption is 360,000 metric tonnes per annum. Surplus is 150,000 metric tonnes and sufficient for export,” the minister said.
