Kenya Sugar Board Chairperson Nicholas Gumbo has sounded the alarm over deep-rooted challenges threatening the future of the country’s sugar industry, warning that cane shortages, high production costs, and rising cases of cane poaching are crippling the sector.
Speaking during the ongoing Sugar Industry Innovation Symposium & EXPO 2025 – Tusonge Edition in Kisumu, Gumbo urged millers and other stakeholders to embrace serious reforms, adopt modern technologies, and put farmers at the center of all industry decisions if Kenya is to restore stability and competitiveness.
Addressing millers, farmers, researchers, and sector players, Gumbo reminded the sector players that the industry’s problems start long before cane reaches the mills.
“Sugar is not made in the factories. It’s actually made in the farms,” he said, emphasizing the urgent need to focus on farmer welfare.
He explained that poor investment in cane development has left the country with insufficient cane, creating a scramble that has fueled rampant poaching.
“One of the biggest problems the sector is facing is what we have baptized as cane poaching… it is really theft. And you know, you can only steal something which is in short supply,” he added.
To address the cane poaching problem, Gumbo said millers will now be required to meet tougher licensing conditions, including proof of serious commitments to seed multiplication, mechanization, and farm-level extension services.
Without such investments, he warned, modern factories risk becoming “white, blue, red or yellow elephants, ”idle and unproductive.
He also highlighted the heavy, often overlooked costs that contribute to the industry’s struggles, such as poor road networks, outdated farming methods, and inefficient labor systems.
“Reducing the cost of production remains a critical goal… all this must be put in a basket which aims only to reduce the costs,” Gumbo said.
The Kenya Sugar Board chair further stressed the need for transparency in the use of the Sugar Development Levy, saying the money must directly support farmers and millers through improved infrastructure, targeted fertilizers, research, and modern equipment.
“Transparency will be non-negotiable… we are obligated to be both individually and collectively accountable on how we use this money,” he said.
Gumbo also challenged the industry to rethink how it uses the sugarcane plant, arguing that Kenya has barely tapped into its full potential. With sucrose and molasses making up only about 15% of the crop, he said the real opportunity lies in value addition through cogeneration, ethanol production, and other by-products.
“We must move from trash to cash,” he urged, calling for distilleries and cogeneration plants to be part of every milling operation.
Despite the sector’s difficulties, Gumbo expressed confidence that Kenya can turn things around and even eliminate sugar imports within the next two years. “I am very optimistic… but this will require boldness, belief in ourselves, and industry-wide collaboration,” he said.
