Talked to a westerner who told us sugarcane farming in western is out of ICU and now on death bed. Surprised no investor can see an opportunity, start a private mill and support farmers to grow cane. . anyone here familiar how mwea rice farmers kicked out red tape govt and NIB out of the window and have been smiling all the way to the bank ever since.. and this was M01 time??

Nyasaye!

For once its refreshing to read posts that are not anti or pro but sober observations.

We can all agree sugar as a cash crop in Kenya is a dead end if the government and political operatives continues to interfere with it.

If someone can be able to import sugar from Brazil and sell it cheaper than ours it means we are not competitive.

Every time i pass through sugar growing areas and i see the obvious poverty caused by enslavement to sugar it makes me sad.

Mud huts in the middle of huge plantations is not a sight that reinforces the image of profits made in this trade.

This was a situation prevalent in mwea and central, meru areas when the government controlled the coffee, milk and rice etc.

As to how they got rid of this enslavement to things that add no nutritional value as the late great teacher Ali Mazrui told us is by taking back control of their livelihoods.

They uprooted and fought the government appointed bodies, in courts,physically, politically, and by selling outside government controlled bodies, uprooting coffees plantations etc.

In mwea it was almost a full scale war between the government and the farmers.
Moi was no fool he was a rural man after all his votes were in the rural area. He never interfered in the fight as he knew the farmers had a right to demand a control of their sources of livelihood.
The fights were fought day and night until they won.

In meru they up rooted the coffee and planted horticultural crops especially bananas and meru became an horticultural zone

Central it was milk and coffee. The battle for coffee is still going on.

In tea the farmers fought for its independence from the government by electing its leaders and directors in the tea industry.

I stand to be corrected but what is needed is for the farmers to take control of their land and their livelihoods in the sugar growing areas and decide if they want to continue with this path or find other more profitable pursuits.

As Jack Nicholson says in the movie the departed, "is that no one gives it to you, you have to take it".

good points, but large scale mechanized farming will still kill the mumias and chemelil farmers, and will end up benefiting a few plantation lords.
Hapa hakuna solution to the sugar cane belt people at the end of the day in the continually globalized climate they will be the losers.

If they still want to deal with sugar, they would need to form cooperatives and use their leadership to press the government to give them some advantage in importing sugar and selling the same locally, instead of their leadership continually complaining about Uganda.

Lakini kama ni options; beef, poultry, cotton ...

It may benefit a few plantation lords but at least it will keep Mumias Sugar, SoNY and other factories viable au siyo?

In terms of other options, I think beef is out because grade cattle do not survive there for some reason. This makes commercial ranching difficult.

Cotton is out because it also requires heavy mechanization and large scale farms in order to be viable. This is why cotton which used to thrive in Kisumu in the 1970s is dead.

Also I understand that cotton requires a certain type of soil that has very good drainage. This is what made the Kisumu area ideal for cotton.
What also made Kisumu ideal is the climate which is very dry during the harvesting season. Excessive rain ruins cotton.

That leaves only poultry.