Kenya is turning to sugarcane ethanol as part of a new strategy aimed at lowering fuel costs, strengthening energy security, and reviving the struggling sugar sector through lessons borrowed from Brazil’s successful biofuel industry.
The policy shift emerged during the 68th International Sugar Organization Seminar in Diani, where Deputy President Prof. Kithure Kindiki and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Sen. Mutahi Kagwe outlined reforms that could redefine sugarcane from a food crop into a strategic energy resource.
Deputy President 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 will work with the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) to develop fuel blending regulations.
The move follows growing interest in Brazil’s sugarcane economy, where ethanol production has helped stabilize fuel prices, reduce dependence on imported oil, and build a strong industrial sector around sugarcane.
Data presented during the seminar showed that Brazil has replaced more than four billion barrels of gasoline with ethanol over the past five decades, saving billions of dollars while enhancing energy security.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Sen. Mutahi Kagwe said Kenya can no longer depend solely on sugar production while ignoring other economic opportunities within the sugarcane value chain.
“We have focused completely on the farmer by increasing their income,” Kagwe said, while warning that the global sugar industry has concentrated too heavily on “the sweetness of sugar and trade” at the expense of the farmers and workers who sustain the sector.
He said Kenya must diversify into ethanol and other sugar by-products if the industry is to remain economically viable.
“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 may eventually cease to be the primary product derived from sugarcane.
“We want sugar to become a by-product in Kenya, not the only product,” he said.
Kenya’s reforms under the Sugar Act 2024 are expected to encourage investment in ethanol production, value addition, and industrial modernization.
The government also linked ethanol production to climate resilience and energy security, saying locally produced biofuel could reduce dependence on imported petroleum while creating a more stable market for farmers.
The sugar industry currently supports more than six million Kenyans directly and indirectly, particularly in western Kenya, where local economies heavily depend on cane farming.
