Kenya is turning to sugarcane ethanol as part of a new strategy aimed at lowering fuel costs, boosting energy security and reviving the struggling sugar sector through lessons borrowed from Brazil’s successful biofuel industry.
The policy shift was unveiled during the 68th International Sugar Organization Seminar in Diani, where Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe outlined reforms that could redefine sugarcane from a food crop into a strategic energy resource.
Speaking at the forum, Kindiki said the government plans to review the Sugar Act and existing regulations to formally integrate ethanol production into Kenya’s sugar industry framework. He added that the government would work closely with the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to develop fuel blending regulations.
The government’s renewed focus on ethanol follows growing interest in Brazil’s sugarcane economy, where ethanol production has helped stabilize fuel prices, reduce dependence on imported oil and strengthen the country’s industrial base.
Conference presentations showed that Brazil has substituted more than four billion barrels of gasoline with ethanol over the past five decades, saving billions of dollars while improving energy security.
Kagwe said Kenya can no longer rely solely on sugar production while ignoring other opportunities within the sugarcane value chain.
“We have focused completely on the farmer by increasing their income,” Kagwe said, warning that the global sugar industry has concentrated too heavily on “the sweetness of sugar and trade” while neglecting the welfare of farmers and workers who sustain the sector.
The CS said Kenya must diversify into ethanol and other sugar by-products if the sector is to remain viable amid global economic and energy disruptions.
“We are now thinking about ethanol seriously from sugar especially with the global disruption of fuel prices,” Kagwe said.
In remarks that signaled a major policy shift, Kagwe suggested that sugar itself may eventually become a secondary product from sugarcane processing.
“We want sugar to become a by-product in Kenya, not the only product,” he said.
The reforms are part of broader efforts to reposition Kenya’s sugar industry into a bio-economy driven by renewable energy, industrial ethanol and value addition. According to government officials, reforms under the Sugar Act 2024 are already laying the groundwork for investment in ethanol production, cogeneration and sustainable industrial development.
The Kenya Sugar Board has also proposed scaling up ethanol production through increased distillation of molasses and expanding green energy generation using bagasse, the fibrous residue left after crushing sugarcane.
Kindiki said reforms introduced since 2022 are already bearing fruit, noting that land under sugarcane cultivation has expanded by 200,000 hectares while farmer earnings have improved through fertilizer subsidy programmes.
The sugar industry currently supports more than six million Kenyans directly and indirectly, particularly in western Kenya, where entire local economies depend on cane farming. Officials believe the shift toward ethanol and green energy could create thousands of rural jobs while reducing the country’s dependence on imported petroleum.
