Biofuels and Energy Crops in Kenya: Lessons from Jatropha and What Actually Works

The current landscape#

Kenya's biofuel story is a cautionary tale of enthusiasm exceeding evidence — and a more recent story of businesses learning from that mistake and building commercially viable bioenergy enterprises from feedstocks that genuinely work. The jatropha experiment of the 2000s saw thousands of Kenyan farmers plant jatropha hedgerows and dedicated plots in the expectation that the oil-bearing seeds would provide a biodiesel feedstock that would simultaneously provide energy security and rural income. The experiment largely failed: jatropha yields in Kenyan conditions were consistently below projections, the processing infrastructure never scaled, and the promised off-take market never materialised at the prices farmers needed. By 2015, most Kenyan jatropha plantings had been abandoned.

Market dynamics and opportunity#

The biofuel feedstocks that do work commercially in Kenya are those based on abundant, proven biomass streams: sugarcane bagasse (the fibrous residue from sugarcane crushing), municipal solid waste, macadamia and coffee husks, crop residues from maize and rice, and animal waste. Kenya's sugar industry — SONY Sugar, Mumias Sugar, Nzoia Sugar, and eight other millers — collectively generates 1.8 million tonnes of bagasse annually, much of which is burned inefficiently or left to rot. Several mills have invested in bagasse cogeneration — burning bagasse in high-pressure boilers to generate electricity for mill operations and export to the grid — with Mumias Sugar's 26MW cogeneration plant (which exports 2MW to the KPLC grid) as the longest-running example. Properly implemented bagasse cogeneration can supply 100% of a sugar mill's thermal and electrical energy needs while generating grid export revenue.

Strategic implications for businesses#

The most commercially significant bioenergy opportunity in Kenya in 2026 is biomass pellet manufacturing for industrial and institutional fuel switching. Biomass pellets — densified agricultural residue products with 15-18 MJ/kg energy content, standardised moisture below 10%, and consistent combustion properties — are replacing heavy fuel oil and LPG in industrial boilers and institutional (school, hospital, hotel) kitchens across Kenya. The economics are compelling: biomass pellets cost KSh 8-12/kg versus fuel oil at KSh 120-140/litre (equivalent energy), and they are available from domestic feedstock (sugarcane tops and trash, maize stalks, rice husk, coffee husks) rather than imported petroleum. Several Kenyan companies — including EcoFuel East Africa and Chardust — have demonstrated commercially viable pellet manufacturing operations serving industrial customers, and the market is significantly undersupplied relative to growing interest from ESG-motivated industrial energy buyers.

Before and after scenario#

A tea factory in Kericho burns 800 tonnes of heavy fuel oil annually for process heat at a cost of KSh 112 million, while 2,000 tonnes of sugarcane tops from adjacent farms are burned as field waste — a potential biomass fuel source going up in smoke literally 10 kilometres away. After investing KSh 8 million in a biomass pellet boiler and establishing a feedstock collection agreement with three sugarcane farms, the factory substitutes 70% of its fuel oil with biomass pellets at KSh 9/kg — saving KSh 68 million annually on fuel costs while reducing Scope 1 carbon emissions by 65%.

2026 market pulse#

Kenya's biomass pellet production grew 220% from 2022 to 2025, with 14 commercial manufacturers producing 85,000 tonnes annually — meeting 35% of estimated industrial biomass fuel demand and demonstrating strong commercial viability despite competition from cheaper but less reliable loose biomass fuels.