Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Festus Mwangi Kiunjuri has assured farmers in Nyanza that his ministry has put measures to stem out cartels in the sugar sector.
Speaking during a tour of the Muhoroni Sugar Company on Tuesday, the CS also said that the government has set aside 2.6 billion shillings to pay cane farmers their dues owed to them by various public sugar millers.
According to the CS, farmers who took their cane to the company will be paid Sh400 million from the Sh2.6 billion.
He was accompanied by Kisumu Governor Professor Anyang' Nyong’o among other leaders.
The governor reiterated his commitment to ensuring that farmers get what they rightfully deserve.
“I urge you to embrace farming of other crops, one of them being avocado farming which has a ready market,” he told farmers.
Before visiting Muhoroni Sugar Company, the leaders toured the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB), Kisumu Branch.
The CS discovered that NCPB Kisumu depot has a capacity of stocking 900, 000 bags of maize, but it is currently stocking less than 600,000 bags of maize.
The CS learned that the management has leased a section of NCPB’s space to private businesses leading to the low number of maize bags being stocked at the depot.