BY SHABAN MAKOKHA

Mumias Sugar Company has stopped direct sale of sugar to local farmers. This means the farmers will have to dig deeper into their pockets to buy sugar. The company said took the move after realising that some farmers have been colluding with retailers to buy and later sell sugar at inflated prices.

Mumias Sugar Company head of corporate affairs Athman Wangara said it had received reports that the company trucks have been delivering sugar at various centres. Wangara said some retailers have been posing as farmers in order to get sugar at low price from the firm.â€Å"In view of that, we have no alternative but to suspend the exercise with immediate effect,â€Â� Wangara said.

He however regretted that many areas in the sugar belt will be affected because farmers have been waiting to receive the sugar from the company at reduced prices. Some of the areas that were earmarked for distribution of sugar are Makunga, Bungoma, Amakura, Kakamega, Ugunja, Lutaso, Sigomere, Busia, Bukura and Sidindi.

Others are Ingotse, Lung'anyiro, Shimanyiro, Buyofu and Shianda where sugar would be supplied up to 10th September 2011. The company decided to sell the sugar directly to local sugarcane farmers at lowered prices after realizing that retailers were exploiting cane farmers by selling the commodity at abnormally higher prices.

The miller has since embarked on distributing its sugar to supermarkets across the country to sell at the company's approved retail prices of Kshs 120 per kilo. A stern warning was sent to retailers against selling the commodity above the company's approved price.â€Å"We intend to flood supermarkets with our sugar so as to stabilize the prices of the commodityâ€Â� Wangara observed.

However, cane farmers from the zone have appealed to the company to set up retail shops within sugar zones to enable farmers acquire sugar at the company's retail prices. Speaking, Tabman Abdul, an entrepreneur in Mumias town said it is surprising to learn that farmers in Mumias produce a lot of sugar yet they are unable to acquire it.