Kenya sugar industry workers’ union threatens nationwide strike over $15 million salary arrears
According to the union, total outstanding dues – including benefits and arrears – amount to Ksh10.8 billion ($84 million)
State sets aside $ 10.6 million to settle sugar industry workers’ salaries, it introduces 27 new cane varieties
Speaking at Chemelil Sugar Company in Kisumu, Mr Ronoh said the arrears had been fully audited and provided for in the national budget, paving the way for payment to employees who were originally hired by the government before the mills were handed over to private investors.
Sugarcane farming in Kenya expected to be hit hard as COMESA safeguards lapse and table sugar drops to industrial raw material
Globally, sugar is no longer treated solely as a single consumer commodity. In competitive markets, sugarcane is increasingly viewed as an industrial raw material, with refined table sugar becoming a secondary product. Value is derived from integrated processing, including the production of ethanol from molasses, electricity generation from bagasse supplied to national grids, paper and board manufacturing, industrial alcohols, and other downstream products.
Chemelil sugar factory in Kenya’s Lake Victoria Basin resumes operations after upgrade
Chemelil Sugar Managing Director Jassi Chatthe confirmed the factory’s readiness to commence operations.
As sugarcane farmers in western Kenya dump the ‘poor man’s crop’, counterparts in Rift Valley are embracing the ‘lazy man’s crop’
The construction of a new factory means that up to 10,000 additional acres of land will be put under the crop to meet the raw materials requirement for the miller to operate optimally. Consequently, a substantial number of farmers are shifting from growing maize to sugarcane, attracted by the profitability and ready market.
