Bill seeking cane weighing at farms set for tabling
A Bill seeking to compel sugar millers to weigh cane at farm gates could soon be tabled in the Kakamega County assembly for debate.
County Assembly deputy Speaker Cleophas Malala, said he had drafted the Bill and would table it soon.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Mr Malala accused sugar millers of tampering with weighbridges to exploit farmers, claiming it was the reason they insisted on the cane being weighed at their firms.
He noted that the Bill also sought to force millers to meet raw material transportation costs.
Suffer losses
“Sugarcane spillage during transportation has made farmers suffer huge losses in the past, millers will be able to control that if they weigh cane at the farms.”
The deputy Speaker vowed to lobby County reps to pass the Bill into law, arguing that the same requirements were stipulated in the Sugar Act, 2001.
His reaction follows accusations against sugar millers in the county by cane growers over alleged adulterated weighbridges.
“Millers must allow farmers to witness cane weighing if they cannot afford to set up weighbridges at the farm gate in order to address the growers’ concern once and for all,” said Malala.
