Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe has launched a fresh government plan to restore the Kwale International Sugar Company Limited (KISCOL), unveiling a broad recovery strategy that includes clearing Sh66 million owed to farmers and setting up a multi-agency committee to steer the factory back to full operations after years of setbacks.
The move is expected to breathe new life into sugarcane farming along the Coast, create thousands of employment opportunities, reduce Kenya's dependence on imported sugar and drive economic growth in Kwale and neighbouring counties.
Speaking during an inspection tour of the factory, irrigation dams, plantations and outgrower farms, Kagwe said the government's priority is to rebuild livelihoods by ensuring the factory resumes stable operations.
"This visit is not about politics. It is about the lives and livelihoods of the people of Kwale. A factory is only important because of the people whose lives it transforms," he said.
To drive the recovery process, Kagwe announced the formation of a multi-stakeholder committee that will be chaired by the Kenya Sugar Board. The team will include representatives from the national government, the Kwale County Government, investors, farmers, security agencies and local leaders.
According to the Cabinet Secretary, the committee has been tasked with resolving the legal, operational and social challenges that have kept the factory from operating at its full potential for years.
Kagwe described KISCOL as one of Kenya's most important private sugar investments, saying it has modern milling equipment, a large irrigated nucleus estate and an extensive outgrower network capable of transforming the Coast region once production returns fully.
He said the integrated sugar complex has the capacity to mill thousands of tonnes of sugarcane every day when operating at full capacity, creating tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs in farming, transport, irrigation, mechanical services, retail trade and manufacturing.
Beyond producing sugar, the factory also has the ability to expand into molasses processing, ethanol production and electricity generation from bagasse, opening up more investment and business opportunities within the region.
Kagwe said the challenges facing the factory extend beyond financial constraints, pointing to land disputes, inadequate sugarcane supply, vandalism, delayed farmer payments and insecurity as some of the issues that require joint action from all stakeholders.
Among the first measures announced is the payment of Sh66 million owed to farmers, which the government says will help rebuild growers' confidence and encourage them to return to sugarcane farming.
The Cabinet Secretary also appealed to residents to protect sugarcane farms and irrigation facilities, warning that burning cane fields and destroying pipelines only worsens farmers' hardships and delays the factory's recovery.
He further called on the Kwale County Government to speed up the resettlement of about 15,000 squatters occupying nearly 7,000 acres belonging to the factory, saying the land issue remains one of the biggest obstacles to restoring full operations.
Drawing from the recovery of leased public sugar factories in western Kenya, Kagwe said similar cooperation between the government, investors and local communities could help KISCOL return to profitability.
"We have seen what cooperation can achieve in other sugar-growing regions. When Government, investors and communities work together, factories reopen, production increases and farmers begin earning again. Kwale can achieve the same success," he said.
KISCOL was closed in 2018 after the Kenya Bureau of Standards seized its sugar consignments over compliance and fitness concerns, a move that the High Court later declared illegal before ordering compensation.
The factory again suspended operations for 20 months from July 2022 following operational challenges and disputes over leased land with the government before resuming milling in February 2024. It later returned to operation in July 2026 following government intervention aimed at restoring production.