Sugarcane farmers in Western Kenya have welcomed the government’s renewed ban on sugar imports, saying the move will help revive local mills and improve their earnings after years of competition from cheaper imported sugar.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe confirmed on Thursday, August 6, during a consultative meeting with cane farmers, that the ban on new sugar import licences remains in force. He said Kenya currently holds adequate local sugar stocks, leaving no justification for additional imports.
Farmers in Lugari Sub-County, Kakamega County, said imported sugar had for years undermined local millers by creating unfair competition, a situation they said hurt cane purchases and the sustainability of the industry. They described the directive as an important step toward reviving domestic production.
According to government figures, sugar imports have fallen by more than 71 percent, from about 210,000 metric tonnes last year to roughly 60,000 metric tonnes this year. Officials attribute part of the decline to a Ksh 40-per-kilogram excise duty introduced under the Finance Act, 2026.
No new import licences are being issued as the Kenya Sugar Board prepares for its board elections, scheduled for September 5. The ministry says the freeze is meant to give local millers room to absorb rising cane deliveries without price pressure from imports.
The sugar sector has long been a politically sensitive issue in Western Kenya, where cane farming supports hundreds of thousands of households. Previous import policies were blamed by farmer groups for depressed cane prices and delayed payments by millers.
The Ministry of Agriculture says it will continue monitoring domestic supply levels to determine whether the import freeze remains necessary heading into the last quarter of the year.
