Sugar farmers from the Western region have reasons to smile after Deputy President William Ruto revealed that the government is finalizing on plans to ensure that they are paid.
Speaking in Shitoto, Kakamega County, on Saturday during the burial of Peletina Akhanyinya Washiali, the mother of Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali, Ruto said that the Jubilee government is determined to support cane farmers across the region in an effort to revamp the sector.
He said that the government has set aside Sh1.9billion to pay the farmers in a bid to offset the Ksh.2.7billion it owes them, reports.
Ruto also said that the government has been facing several challenges in the farming sector but promised the farmers brighter days.
Farmers from the region have been lamenting over delayed payments for some time amid blame game in the Ministry of Agriculture. They have been faulting leaders for politicizing the whole story at the expense of their sweat.
“We have done an estimation there is sh. 2.7 billion that these companies owe farmers. We have decided that although we didn't use the sugar, as the government want to pay that debt,” he said in part.
Ruto, however, noted that farmers will start being paid on time to ensure that they progress.
The second in command also urged farmers from the region to embrace diversification in order to avert some of the challenges they have been facing over decades.
DP Ruto's call for diversification has continued to elicit mixed reactions from various factions.