Bungoma-based Nzoia Sugar Company is facing imminent closure.

According to the company’s acting managing director Michael Kulundu, the sugar miller has been crippled by sugar cane poaching and the on-going drought.

Mr. Kulunda says that neighbouring sugar millers have been  illegally harvesting cane from farmers contracted by Nzoia Sugar.

“The neighbouring factories are the main problem. They have put us into this situation. They have been harvesting our contracted cane and taking them to their factories for crushing,” he says. “We are struggling, we don’t have mature cane, all the cane we developed was poached by our neighbouring firms or dried due to the recent drought that hit the country.”

The company has also been accused of failing to pay farmers, something that the managing director denies. According to him, Nzoia Sugar is currently processing Sh. 185 million payments for cane delivered in January and February.

“We have paid up to December 2016 and we are working on modalities of starting paying for the January and February arrears,” he says. Currently, Nzoia Sugar pays its farmers Sh4,200 per tonne of delivered cane.

Nzoia Sugar is the only processing factory in Bungoma County.

The MD further laments that the poaching menace against nzoia’s raw materials has led to the death and injury of some of its employees.

“The poaching menace has led to the killing of two of our employees in the Anti-poaching Department by our rivals, let them be put on notice that we can’t lose our cane and at the same time lose our employees.”