Rai Sh5bn Naitiri plant starts milling in Q1

Tractors transporting sugar cane at the West Kenya factory weighbridge in Miwani in Kisumu County. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By GERALD ANDAE
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Summary

• General manager N.V Venkatappa said they are winding up on trials this January and after that, a decision will be made on when to operationalise the plant.
• The Bungoma-based Naitiri Sugar factory, which is a branch of West Kenya Sugar Company, will start with the capacity of 3,000 tonnes of cane per day but production is projected to peak at 6,000 tonnes.

A Sh5 billion sugar factory by the billionaire Rai family will start milling sugar in the first quarter of the year at its Naitiri Sugar Company, increasing competition for cane in the region.

General manager N.V Venkatappa said they are winding up on trials this January and after that, a decision will be made on when to operationalise the plant.

The Bungoma-based Naitiri Sugar factory, which is a branch of West Kenya Sugar Company, will start with the capacity of 3,000 tonnes of cane per day but production is projected to peak at 6,000 tonnes.

“If the trials go well and we do not encounter any problem during this period, then we shall be commencing actual production as early as soon as possible,” said Mr Venkatappa.

Kenya relies on sugar imports from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) to bridge the annual deficit.

The commencement of Naitiri comes at a time when Mumias Sugar Company is also set to commence production soon after the miller was leased to a Ugandan firm last month.

Kenya is allowed to import up to 300,000 tonnes from Comesa countries, however, the Treasury capped the volumes last year to 210,000 tonnes.

The coming in of a new player will help in addressing the cheap imports coming to the country from the region by cutting on import quotas.

The miller will rely on out-grower farmers to meet its raw material needs in what will tighten competition for sugar cane in the region, especially now when the Ministry of Agriculture has outlawed processors from signing contracts that tie growers to a given factory.

Completion and commissioning of the factory that was slated for 2020 had to be delayed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19.

The pandemic disrupted the importation of equipment and travel for experts that were to facilitate the installation of new modern equipment at the factory.

Sustainable supply

Between 2019 and 2021, West Kenya Sugar Company invested more than Sh1 billion in cane development largely in Nyanza, western and parts of the Rift Valley to create a sustainable supply of cane to its factories.

The has more than 200,000 contracted farmers who are spread across nine counties including Busia, Kakamega, Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Kericho, Kisumu, Vihiga and Nandi.

Counties like Trans Nzoia, which have for long been relying on maize has seen some farmers shift to sugar cane growing.