Our History – Sugar Directorate

Kenya Sugar Authority (KSA)

The Kenya Sugar Authority Order, 1973 (Cap. 318) established the Kenya Sugar Authority to promote and foster the effective and efficient development of sugarcane for the production of white sugar in Kenya; and advise on the rules and regulations necessary to enable the effective and efficient functioning and development of the sugar industry.

The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB)

The Kenya Sugar Board (KSB) was established on 1st April, 2002, under the Sugar Act 2001, as a successor to the Kenya Sugar Authority. The mandate of the Kenya Sugar Board as stipulated in Section 4 (1) and 4 (2) of the Sugar Act 2001 was to: regulate, develop and promote the Sugar Industry; co-ordinate the activities of individuals and organizations within the industry and facilitate equitable access to the benefits and resources of the industry by all interested parties.

The Ministry for Agriculture initiated structural reforms in 2010 which sought to reduce the multiplicity of regulatory and research functions; maximize the benefits of economies of scale by merging parastatals with similar or related functions; and strengthen the capacity of parastatals responsible regulation and research to effectively undertake their core mandates. These reforms culminated in the enactment of the Agriculture and Food Authority Act, No. 13 of 2013; The Crops Act, No. 16 of 2013 and the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Act, 2013 (KALR Act, No. 17 of 2013). After the merger of former Boards responsible for Sugar, Tea, Coffee, Pyrethrum, Horticultural crops, and Nuts and Oil Crops, to form the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA), the envisaged efficiency gains were not realized due to challenges that included, lack of a Board of Directors, inefficiencies in operations, financing challenges following the revocation of crop levies in 2016. These reforms did not achieve the intended objectives leading to the general decline in the performance of all the major crop sub-sectors and raising concern among stakeholders many of whom have continued to agitate for the Ministry reintroduction of the former regulatory boards. In an attempt to address these challenges, the Ministry for Agriculture initiated further reforms which led to the enactment of the Tea Act in 2022. Subsequently the Board of AFA was constituted in 2023, in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the Authority in its mandate to regulate, develop and promote the scheduled crops sub-sectors.