Kakamega County

Kakamega exists because the forest exists—and because sugarcane replaced what the forest couldn't provide. The Kakamega rainforest, Kenya's last fragment of equatorial jungle, once covered much of western Kenya. Colonial-era clearing for agriculture and the introduction of sugarcane in 1922 transformed the region's economy around a single crop. Mumias Sugar Company, established in 1973, became East Africa's largest sugar producer.

For decades, Kakamega exemplified sugarcane monoculture's promise: steady employment, processing facilities, farmer payments. Then came decline. Mismanagement, cheap imports, and aging infrastructure pushed Mumias into receivership by 2020. Fields went unharvested. Factories fell silent. The once-dominant crop now covers 61% of the Mumias Sugar Belt, down from 71% in 2016, as farm sizes shrink and economies of scale collapse.

January 2025 marked a symbolic turning point: for the first time since 1922, sugarcane farmers received bonus payments—KSh 150 million distributed to 15,846 farmers at Mumias grounds, witnessed by President Ruto. Yet July 2025 brought harsh reality: the Kenya Sugar Board ordered a three-month milling closure affecting seven factories, including three in Kakamega, due to cane shortages. Farmers now earn KSh 5,750 per tonne—improved, but insufficient to reverse years of underinvestment.

Diversification efforts accelerate: collaboration with JICA targets avocado, sunflower, and upland rice as alternatives. The county exhibits classic monoculture vulnerability—when the dominant crop fails, the entire economy fails. By 2026, Kakamega faces the agricultural diversification challenge that sugar-dependent regions worldwide have struggled to solve: whether new crops can replace not just income but the entire infrastructure built around a century of sugarcane.