Kenya orders sugar millers to pay cane farmers within seven days
Kenya is tightening sugar sector oversight through faster farmer payments, mobile weighbridges, quality-based cane testing and expanded domestic sugar refining.
KENYA – Kenya has directed sugar millers to pay sugarcane farmers within seven days of cane delivery, with penalties and interest for delayed payments.
The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) said the directive is intended to end payment delays that have previously left farmers waiting weeks or months after delivering their cane. Millers that fail to meet the seven-day requirement will face penalties, including interest on overdue payments.
The board is also procuring mobile weighbridges to address concerns over cane weighing and enable independent verification. KSB chief executive officer Jude Chesire said some farmers had reportedly lost “as much as three tons of cane per trailer” because of suspected weighing malpractices.
The government has invested in cane-testing units as Kenya moves toward a payment system based on cane quality and sugar content rather than weight alone. The changes are intended to improve payment accuracy and monitoring.
The measures come as domestic sugar production continues to recover but remains below national consumption. Kenya produced 815,454 metric tonnes of sugar in 2024, while output fell to 611,576 tonnes in 2025.
Production between January and July 2026 reached 528,875 tonnes. Output rose to 89,709 tonnes in June and reached a record 91,022 tonnes in July, according to the report.
Despite the recovery, Kenya remains a sugar-deficit market, with annual demand of about 1.2 million tonnes. This includes approximately one million tonnes of brown or table sugar and 200,000 tonnes of white refined sugar used for industrial applications.
Kenya imported 477,551 tonnes of sugar in 2025. Between January and July 2026, the country imported a further 65,081 tonnes of brown sugar, mainly from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa and East African Community regions.
White refined sugar remains a concern because Kenya spends an estimated Kes 30 billion annually on imports. The government wants to retain more of that expenditure locally by increasing cane production and domestic refining capacity.
Kenya has begun refining imported raw sugar locally rather than relying entirely on finished refined sugar. KSB said safeguards have been introduced to prevent raw sugar from entering the table-sugar market before refining.
The board is also addressing harvesting and cane-delivery delays. Millers have been directed to establish cane harvesting frameworks by September 10 to streamline harvesting, transportation and delivery and reduce deterioration of cane on farms.
Sign up HERE to receive our email newsletters with the latest news and insights from Africa and around the world, and follow us on our WhatsApp channel for updates.
