The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) will spend Sh600 million to facilitate research into fast maturing sugarcane varieties starting this financial year, to enhance production.

This comes amid concerns that it was taking more than 20 months for cane to mature in Western Kenya sugar belt while at the Coast belt, it only took 11 months.

AFA Director General Jude Chesire disclosed this during the 2nd Annual Sugar Innovation Symposium in Kisumu. “There are echoing concerns about sugarcane variety, with farmers claiming the current sugarcane variety took too long to mature in the farms,’’ he claimed.

The AFA boss said, there is great potential to produce more sugar in Western Kenya and at the Coast region, and that they want to do all they can to exploit this.

“We are looking at having 250 hectares under cane and we are glad that the World Bank has noted this potential and want to support farmers,’’ he said. Chesire revealed that the World Bank wants to help farmers get cheap and subsidised fertiliser as the industry aims at being self-reliant in sugarcane production.

Currently, smallholder farmers make up a significant percentage of the sugarcane production, supply chains, and their success is essential for the industry’s success.

He spoke as AFA Chairman Cornelly Serem questioned the rationale of cane grown at the Coast, taking shorter duration to mature as opposed to other growing zones. Yet, it is important for farmers to grow early maturing, high yielding varieties with high sucrose content that match their significant investment put in cane farming.

Kwale Sugar Factory is set to start sugar production this week, while plans are also on course for Tana River to start growing cane after research found it had potential.

Profitable sugarcane production depends on both quality of seed cane planted and good cane husbandry, which AFA through Sugar Research Institute (SRI), now wants to focus on. This is because by 2026, the mode of payment of farmers for cane delivered to the factories is going to change from payment on weight to payment on sucrose content.

Localised supply chains

These are some of the mandatory recommendations, by Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) safeguard measures, Kenya must meet.

“This includes and is not limited to achieving self-sufficiency in sugar production through sustainable best practices, waste reduction, resource optimisation, diversification, localised supply chains, innovation, and regulatory support systems, Chesire told the media.

Consequently, to achieve self-sufficiency, the sugar industry must focus on optimising resource utilisation, reducing waste, and embrace renewable energy sources. Chesire disclosed that the industry now wants to go full throttle to explore harnessing of the sugarcane by-products and increase farmers earnings.

“There are countries like Brazil that have now perfected Ethanol production and are using it in their vehicles to prevent engine knocking and to drive cars,’’ he said. Ethanol is a renewable, domestically produced transportation fuel.

“We want to go the same route,’’ Chesire told the symposium, themed toward ‘Towards Self-Sufficiency’ to improve production and supply chains and to empower stakeholders to accelerate the sector’s economic growth.