Kenya is now looking beyond table sugar and into ethanol production as the next frontier for reviving the sugar industry, lowering fuel costs and creating thousands of rural jobs.
This follows lessons drawn from Brazil’s globally celebrated sugarcane-to-fuel model.
Speaking during the opening of the 68th International Sugar Organization Seminar in Diani, Deputy President Prof Kithure Kindiki and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe signaled a major policy shift that could redefine sugarcane as not just a source of sugar, but a strategic energy crop capable of easing the country’s fuel burden.
The seminar highlighted how Brazil has successfully used ethanol blended fuel to stabilize gasoline prices, reduce oil dependence and grow its sugarcane economy.
Conference presentations showed ethanol-based fuel in Brazil remains significantly cheaper than conventional gasoline, with the country having replaced over four billion barrels of gasoline with ethanol over the past five decades.
How Kenya plans to produce ethanol from sugarcane
DP Kindiki announced that the government will review the Sugar Act and existing regulations to anchor ethanol production within Kenya’s legal and economic framework, including working with Energy and Petroleum Regulations Authority to develop fuel blending regulations.
The move marks Kenya’s clearest indication yet that sugarcane ethanol could become part of the country’s long-term fuel strategy amid volatile global oil prices and pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
At the center of the new approach is CS Sen. Mutahi Kagwe, who said Kenya can no longer focus narrowly on sugar production while ignoring wider opportunities within the sugarcane value chain.
“We are now thinking about ethanol seriously from sugar especially with the global disruption of fuel prices,” CS Kagwe said.
In what could become a defining policy direction, CS Kagwe suggested that sugar itself may eventually become a by-product rather than the main product from sugarcane.
“We want sugar to become a by-product in Kenya, not the only product,” he said.
Kenya is now studying Brazil’s integrated sugarcane economy where ethanol, electricity cogeneration, industrial alcohol and sustainable biofuels have transformed sugarcane into a strategic industrial crop.
Kenya’s sugar sector reforms
CS Kagwe said reforms under the Sugar Act 2024 are already laying the groundwork for industrial modernization, including investment in ethanol production, cogeneration and value addition.
The government also linked ethanol production to climate resilience and energy security, saying locally produced biofuel could reduce dependence on imported petroleum while creating stable markets for farmers.
The sugar industry currently supports more than six million Kenyans directly and indirectly, especially across western Kenya, where entire local economies depend on cane farming.
With global fuel prices remaining unpredictable and pressure mounting for cleaner energy alternatives, Kenya’s push toward ethanol could reshape both the country’s energy landscape and the future of its sugar belt.
