By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 12 August 2026 - Kenya’s sugar farmers are throwing their weight behind a government drive to protect local production, end unnecessary imports and give growers a stronger voice in the management of the industry.
Led by Agriculture and Food Authority Director Samwel Ong’ou, farmer representatives have welcomed Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe’s latest measures, describing them as a critical attempt to rescue an industry that has for years been trapped between cheap imports, cane poaching, delayed payments and weak farmer representation.
Ong’ou said Kagwe’s decision to tighten the sugar market was good for farmers because it places local production at the centre of the government’s strategy.
The farmer-led support comes as the government freezes new sugar import licences and prepares to hold elections for five grower directors to the Kenya Sugar Board on September 5.
For growers, the two decisions are closely connected.
Protecting local sugar without giving farmers a meaningful voice in the regulator would leave the sector vulnerable to the same problems that have dogged it for decades.
Kagwe has now signalled that the government wants to change both sides of that equation.
He has directed the Kenya Sugar Board not to issue new licences for sugar imports, arguing that domestic production has reached a level capable of meeting the country’s requirements.
The Cabinet Secretary said imports had fallen sharply from about 210,000 tonnes last year to roughly 60,000 tonnes this year.
He attributed part of the decline to the Sh40 per kilogramme excise duty introduced under the Finance Act, 2026.
Kagwe's argument is straightforward: Kenya cannot expect its sugar industry to recover if local farmers are producing cane while imported sugar takes away their market.
“We are not going to import sugar at the risk of the local industry,” he said.
Ong’ou and farmer leaders have endorsed that position, saying the current production trend provides an opportunity to rebuild confidence among growers.
But they also recognise that an import ban alone will not transform the industry.
The deeper crisis lies in the structure of sugar production.
Farmers have faced delayed payments. Millers compete for cane. New factories can intensify cane poaching. Roads serving cane-growing areas remain poor. Research and extension services have struggled to keep pace with farmers' needs.
Kagwe has therefore moved to tighten the licensing of new factories.
Investors seeking milling licences will have to demonstrate that they have adequate nucleus estates and contracted outgrowers.
“Before we licence a factory, we must know where the nucleus farm is and where the outgrowers are,” Kagwe said.
For farmers, the message is important.
More factories should not automatically mean more prosperity.
Without enough cane, competing mills simply chase the same farmers, destabilising the industry and leaving growers caught between competing interests.
The government is also attempting to close another painful chapter: historical farmer arrears.
Kagwe said the government initially owed sugar farmers almost Sh2 billion but that only about KSh 265 million remained outstanding.
He said he had engaged Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi to facilitate payment of the balance.
“My happiest day will be when Government owes sugar farmers absolutely nothing,” Kagwe said.
Farmer representatives say clearing the remaining arrears would restore confidence and allow growers to reinvest in their farms.
The most important institutional change, however, may come through the Kenya Sugar Board elections.
Harun Khator, chairperson of the Grower Directors Election Committee, announced that the five regional grower directors will be elected on September 5.
The positions represent the five sugar-growing regions and are required to complete the Board under the Sugar Act, 2024.
The election is being treated by farmer organisations as a test of whether the new law will genuinely transfer influence to growers.
Kenya National Federation of Sugarcane Farmers secretary-general Kilion Osur said farmers had waited long enough for the reforms and insisted that their representatives must be elected.
“We do not want nominated directors; we want elections,” Osur said.
That demand captures the mood among growers.
They want a sugar regulator in which farmers have a direct stake.
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They want the Sugar Development Levy properly managed.
They want investment in cane roads and development.
They want predictable pricing.
And they want payment systems that do not leave growers waiting for months after delivering their crop.
Farmers from Busia and Nzoia have particularly raised concerns over delayed payments.
Other representatives have called for the release of the infrastructure component of the Sugar Development Levy to repair roads and support cane development.
There are also demands for the government to address more than Sh48 billion owed by former outgrower institutions to the Kenya Sugar Board.
Farmer organisations argue that resolving the debt burden would give them greater capacity to participate in future cane development programmes.
Pricing remains another pressure point.
Some young farmers have pushed for the cane price to return to Sh5,750 per tonne, while acknowledging that the current Sh5,500 can be maintained if it remains economically sustainable.
Kagwe has resisted simplistic answers, arguing that sugar pricing must balance farmers, millers and consumers.
“If nobody is completely satisfied, then it is probably a fair price,” he said.
His argument reflects the central dilemma facing the industry.
A price that rewards farmers but makes locally produced sugar uncompetitive hurts consumers.
A cheap price that protects consumers but leaves farmers unable to make a profit eventually destroys production.
The government's challenge is to find a sustainable middle ground.
Research is another piece of that puzzle.
Kagwe has promised to strengthen the Kenya Sugar Research and Training Institute and appoint a substantive chief executive to drive research, improved cane varieties and farmer engagement.
The government also plans closer collaboration between the Kenya Sugar Board and county governments.
Taken together, the measures point to an attempt to rebuild the sugar industry from the farm upwards.
That is why Ong’ou's farmer-led endorsement matters.
The debate is no longer simply about whether government should protect sugar farmers.
It is about whether protection can be converted into productivity, better incomes and a competitive industry.
The September 5 elections will provide the first major test.
Five grower directors will join the Kenya Sugar Board and give farmers a formal voice in an institution expected to regulate the sector and oversee critical interventions.
For Ong’ou and the farmers supporting Kagwe's reforms, the objective is bigger than stopping imports.
It is to create an industry in which farmers can plant with confidence, millers can operate predictably and consumers can buy locally produced sugar at sustainable prices.
Kenya has tried repeatedly to fix its sugar industry.
This time, farmers want to be at the centre of the solution.
And their message, led by Ong’ou, is increasingly clear: protect the farmer, strengthen the regulator, fix the factories and let local sugar compete.