The impact of Sugar Industry on Socio-Economic development in Kenya - the case of Muhoroni Sugar Company (1992 - 2017)
Abstract
The
study inte nded to examine the impac t of the sugar industry on socio economic
development in Kenya, with the general resear ch question being to what extent does
suga r industry impact socio economic development in Kenya. The study used
Muhoroni Sugar Company (MUSCO) a s a case study. It sought to answer the
following question: To what extent does sugar indust ry impact on the socio economic
development of Kenya? The specif ic questions were; what contribution has MUSCO
made towards the socio economic dev elopment of Muhoro ni Sub County? What
challenges does Muhoroni Sugar Company experience which inhibits its capacity to
effec tively impact on Socio economic Development of Muhoroni Sub County? To
answer these questions, the followi ng specific objectives were set; To assess t he
socio economic impact of Muhoroni Sugar industry in Muhor oni Sub County in
Kisumu County and To establish factors that hinder Muhoroni Sugar company
capacity to promote socio economic development in Muhoroni sub county with a
view of offering proposed solutions. This study also set out to test the following
research hypotheses: That sugar industry significantly impacts Kenya’s socio
economic development; sugar industry has potential of creating job opportunities and
good policies can improve performance of the sugar companies in Kenya by boosting
their capacity to enhance socio political development in Kenya. The study found out
that sugar industry as a sub sector of agriculture is expected to compete with others
such as tea, coffee and floriculture in c ontributing to Kenya’s national wealth. The
study further established that sugar sub sector is a sleeping giant, which operates
below capacity as a result of myriad challenges that have never been addressed for
close to five decades due to neglect, lack of clear policies and political goodwill from
the government of the day to enhance socio political development of communities in
sugar belt areas. Muhoroni Township becomes a ghost town whenever the factory is
closed down for routine maintenance, but bursts into a beehive of at the end of three
month period during which the business community realizes improved business due to
enhanced disposable income. The study concludes by giving proposals for
interventions, which the national government, Kisumu County Gov ernment and other
stakeholders need to undertake into o rder to enhance social economic development in
Muhoroni Sub County and also ensure the sugar sub sector competes with other sub
sectors in agriculture in contributing to economic growth of the country.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
- Faculty of Arts [657]
The following license files are associated with this item: