Get out of the sugar industry

The Kenya government has been playing musical chairs with the privatisation of the sugar industry in Western Kenya for close to two decades.

In the process, it has made Kenya a sugar-deficit country when we should actually be exporting the commodity.

But now the government must find the most transparent way to disengage itself from the sugar industry if the industry is to rise from deep slumber.

Nobody opposes the merger of sugar factories; it is a good idea whose time will come but first, get the government out of the industry.

Fix agriculture, all else will follow

Agriculture is still the mainstay of the Kenyan economy.

Cumulatively, it is the biggest foreign exchange earner and the biggest employer in the country both directly and indirectly.

However, to get even better results from the industry we must find a way of dealing with poor infrastructure, high energy costs, small farm holdings, unsustainable land subdivisions, subsidies in developed countries, high costs of inputs, poor government policies, corruption, mismanagement of relevant meaning bodies and agencies, labour malpractices, poor rains, heavy reliance on rain etc.

source: theeastafrican