By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 14 December 2025 - Africa’s assumption of leadership at the International Sugar Organisation (ISO) is reshaping the global sugar narrative, shifting it decisively from a narrow focus on raw sugar toward a broader, more resilient agro-industrial model anchored in ethanol and biofuels.
With Kenya’s Jude Chesire elected Chairman of the ISO Council and Côte d’Ivoire’s Ambassador Ali Touré unanimously chosen as Vice Chairman, the world’s premier sugar governance body is, for the first time, being driven by an African leadership bloc with a clear reformist agenda.
At the heart of that agenda is diversification—specifically, the integration of ethanol and biofuel production as a core pillar of the sugar industry’s future.
For decades, the global sugar sector has been plagued by structural challenges: chronic oversupply, sharp price cycles, rising production costs, and increasing competition from alternative sweeteners.
These pressures have been particularly acute for developing-country producers, many of whom rely almost entirely on raw sugar sales while lacking the capital and policy frameworks needed to diversify.
Chesire and Touré argue that this model is no longer viable in a world grappling with climate change, energy insecurity, and shifting trade dynamics.
Their leadership signals a strategic rethinking of sugarcane itself. Rather than viewing it solely as a food crop, the new ISO leadership is promoting sugarcane as a multi-output industrial feedstock capable of producing food, fuel, power, and industrial inputs.
Ethanol, in this vision, is not a peripheral add-on but a stabilizing force that can absorb excess cane, reduce pressure on sugar prices, and unlock new income streams across the value chain.
Chesire has been explicit in framing ethanol as essential to the industry’s survival. He has consistently argued that reliance on crystal sugar alone exposes farmers and millers to global shocks beyond their control. Ethanol production, by contrast, offers a predictable outlet that links agriculture directly to the energy sector.
As countries expand biofuel blending mandates and pursue lower-carbon energy options, demand for ethanol is expected to grow steadily, providing a counterbalance to volatile sugar markets.
This approach is informed by Chesire’s experience in Kenya, where recent sugar sector reforms have demonstrated the benefits of restructuring, private investment, and policy coherence.
Under Kenya’s reform program, mill efficiency has improved, farmer prices have risen, and production has rebounded after years of decline.
While Kenya’s ethanol capacity remains underdeveloped, Chesire views it as the logical next frontier—one that could consolidate recent gains and insulate the sector from future downturns. His elevation to ISO Chairman now allows him to project this reform logic onto the global stage.
Touré’s role as Vice Chairman reinforces the continental scope of the agenda. Representing West Africa, a region with fast-growing populations, rising energy demand, and heavy reliance on imported fuels, Touré has emphasized ethanol’s potential to serve both agricultural and macroeconomic objectives.
For many African economies, fuel imports consume scarce foreign exchange, while sugar industries struggle with low margins and underinvestment. Ethanol offers a bridge between these challenges—creating domestic energy substitutes while strengthening rural agro-industrial systems.
Together, Chesire and Touré are positioning ethanol and biofuels as tools for structural transformation rather than short-term fixes.
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They argue that diversification can turn traditional sugar mills into integrated agro-energy hubs, capable of producing fuel ethanol, industrial alcohol, electricity through cogeneration, and even tradable carbon credits.
Such integration improves asset utilisation, spreads risk, and enhances the bankability of sugar projects—factors critical for attracting long-term private capital.
Within the ISO, this ethanol-driven vision is expected to influence multiple policy fronts.
As the organisation undertakes reforms to its constitution and governance structures, Chesire’s leadership is likely to embed diversification, sustainability, and energy integration more firmly into ISO’s mandate.
Trade policy discussions—traditionally centered on tariffs, quotas, and price transparency—are also expected to broaden to include biofuel standards, sustainability certification, and the role of sugarcane in climate mitigation strategies.
Importantly, Africa’s leadership comes at a time when global energy transitions are accelerating.
Many countries are expanding ethanol blending requirements to reduce emissions and enhance energy security.
Yet production remains highly concentrated in a few major exporters.
Chesire and Touré see this as both a risk and an opportunity: a risk if African producers remain locked out of emerging markets, and an opportunity if the continent moves quickly to build capacity, harmonize policies, and leverage ISO as a platform for coordinated action.
Their push for ethanol is also framed as a farmer-centered reform. By creating alternative markets for cane, ethanol production can reduce payment delays, smooth demand cycles, and improve income predictability for growers. In regions where sugarcane supports millions of livelihoods, this stability carries significant social and political weight.
It also aligns with broader development agendas focused on rural employment, industrialization, and inclusive growth.
Ultimately, the Chesire–Touré leadership marks a philosophical shift in global sugar governance. Rather than managing decline through trade negotiations alone, the new ISO leadership is advocating for proactive reinvention.
Ethanol and biofuels are being positioned as the bridge between agriculture and energy, tradition and innovation, vulnerability and resilience.
As Africa takes charge of the ISO, the message to the global sugar industry is clear: the future of sugar will be defined not only by how much is produced, but by how intelligently it is diversified.
Under Chesire and Touré, sugar is no longer just a commodity—it is becoming a strategic platform for energy, climate action, and sustainable industrial growth.
