A news feature titled “Cane growing is now a bitter toil with little gain” in the Daily Nation, one of the national newspapers in Kenya highlights ongoing engagement forums by the Utafiti Sera (research-policy) community on employment creation in the sugar sector in Kenya.
The feature highlights findings of a study that was funded by Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and conducted by the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi. Findings of the study were discussed during an engagement forum with policy actors, researchers and practitioners in November 15, 2016.
Evidently, the sector creates about 6 million jobs in the country and has potential for more employment creation. This is however limited by a number of challenges including lack of access to affordable credit by smallholder farmers who grow sugarcane, high costs of farm inputs and delay in cane harvesting. Overall, the study claims that “lack of political good will” has resulted in many challenges that actors along the sugar cane value chain experience.
The Utafiti Sera community on employment creation in Kenya was initiated by PASGR and is supported by INCLUDE.
Read the full news feature here.
