Diversifying the Use of Molasses Towards Improving the Infrastructure and Economy of Kenya

Abstract

Sugar factories in the sugar belt of Kenya produce a lot of molasses. Sony Sugar factory alone for example, produces about 140,000tonnes of molasses annually. All the sugar factories in Kenya in 2002 milled a total of 5.3million tonnes of sugar cane with molasses production being about 30% of this tonnage. The molasses produced is sold to farmers as animal feed or to distillers and food processing factories. This paper is an analysis of the production of molasses and sugar in four factories in Kenya with an examination of these components and how they contribute to the economy and or infrastructure of the country. The study was conducted through laboratory analysis of cane molasses to establish the components of the molasses that have an impact on quality of road construction soil materials. Data on production was collected from four sugar factories through a questionnaire. The data on sugar production was found necessary because molasses production depend on sugar production. This implies that the higher the sugar production the higher the molasses production. The data also showed a growing trend in annual sugar productions. Consequently this would translate to an increase in molasses production annually.

Keywords: Sugar molasses, Laboratory, Expansive soil, Stabilization