NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 1 — The government has approved Sh600 million for sugarcane development to anchor sugar sector reforms.
The funding is part of a Sh2 billion lease plan announced by President William Ruto through state-owned mills and is set to be used for cane seed development in the sugar belt region.
The Head of State, in his address during the 61st Madaraka Day celebrations in Masinde Muliro stadium in Kanduyi Bungoma County, asserted that the new leasing model is part of the plan under his Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda.
He reiterated that agricultural sectors such as the sugar sector must be supported as they are the surest avenues for creating jobs for youths in the country.
”The sugar industry is a highly strategic sub sector whose value chain has been the mainstay of the local economies of our sugar belt and a generator of much needed jobs and value,” he said on Saturday.
Ruto further disclosed that his administration has written off a Sh110 billion debt owed to the state by sugar mills across the country accumulated for forty years.
He added that the move will now ease the pressure on the sweetener manufacturers paving the way for prompt payment of cane farmers and timely wages of factory workers annually akin to other crops such as coffee and tea.
Earlier the Head of State asserted that he was keen on reviving the sugar industry from its shackles.
Sugar mills lined up for redemption include Nzoia and Mumias which have been on a downward slide weighed down by legal battles.
