Kwale International Sugar Company Limited (Kiscol) has resumed crushing of cane following 20 months of closure which had heavily affected farmers on the coast. 

The Sugar Directorate says the Kwale county-based sugar miller resumed operations last month following its closure amid a battle with the government over its leased land. 

“Kiscol resumed operations in February 2024 after a long closure since July 2022,” said the Sugar Directorate. 

It further said the output of sugar from the factory per tonne of cane crushed remains the least in the country because it is milling cane that has over-matured. “They had the lowest sugar recovery at 2.88 percent, which was attributed to the milling of over-mature cane,” it said. 

Kiscol sued the government in April 2022, seeking damages of $277.66 million (Sh36.92 billion) for breach of statutory and contractual duties over its lease of the land in Kwale. 

It accused the government of failing to provide it with full, unhindered, and peaceful possession of the leased area. 

Kiscol, which started operations in 2015, occupies 15,000 acres out of which 5,000 is leased from the government while the remainder is leased from outgrowers. 

The miller is owned 80 percent by Pabari Group, which is an incorporation of several companies across the globe, and 20 percent by Omnicane Limited, the largest sugar factory in Mauritius. 

The company, during a sugar sector stakeholders meeting in August, had announced that it would reopen in November last year with a crushing capacity of 1,500 tonnes of cane per day. 

Agriculture and Food Authority chairman Cornelly Serem had implored the miller to reopen to alleviate the plight of coast cane farmers. 

“Other factories are being affected by an issue of immature cane but you have over-mature cane which you are not crushing. Farmers are complaining,” said Mr Serem in August last year.