Kenana sugar company
The Kenana Sugar Company was incorporated in March 1975, and the factory commissioned five years later. Kenana is situated near Rabak on the eastern bank of the White Nile, 250km south of Sudan's capital, Khartoum. The rich alluvial soils of the Blue Nile flood plain, close to the course of the White Nile with its abundant surface water, are ideal for the cultivation of sugar cane which is currently established on some 100,000-acre of irrigated land. The plan for a sugar-processing plant and cane estate was the brainchild of the late Tiny Rowland, whose Lonrho company already had extensive interests in Africa. In 1972 he and the Sudanese government signed an agreement to produce sugar. There was a long gestation period during which capital costs of US$1 billion had to be raised and the construction contracts signed, before the factory's foundation stone was laid in 1976. Four years later the plant began processing sugar cane and it was officially inaugurated in 1981. Production was initially for domestic consumption and it was not until 1991 that exports began. Service industries for Kenana have sprung up in the immediate Rabak/Kosti area making it one of the most prosperous in the country. Nearly 100,000 people are estimated to be dependent on the project. Apart from sugar production, a new generation of environmentally friendly Kenana products are being developed from timber planted within the estate - while Kenana charcoal has been uniquely created from a by-product of sugar production, bagasse. Kenana animal feed, with its high nutritional value, has also enjoys substantial export markets in the Gulf. Most of the sugar that is exported goes to African and Middle Eastern states, as well as India and Bangladesh, and as far away as Europe. Molasses are sold to Britain and the Netherlands. The KSC estate draws water for irrigation and processing. Six pumps raise the water 46 metres above the level of the river, sending it along a 40km canal to the plantation area. The sugar cane is fed by gravity by some 400km of smaller canals, which follow the contour lines of the estate. Around 7,000 million litres a day are needed for irrigation alone. The estate's generating station has a capacity of 53MW, making it the third largest electricity producer in the country. Road and rail links have been established to Port Sudan and to main centres around the country. The estate encompasses a township complete with mosque, primary and secondary schools, a hospital, several satellite villages with primary healthcare facilities, and a vocational training centre with modern equipment and teaching aids
The factory crushes and processes more than 20,000 tonnes of cane a day. The company subsidiary Kenana Friesland, an association with a Dutch company, is the largest supplier of dairy products in the country and produces milk, yoghurt and cheese. The company has another branch called Kenana Engineering and Technical Services (Kets), which is responsible for the management of various businesses, like White Nile and a mill in Nigeria, called Savana Sugar Factory. Kets is also participating in tenders for the construction of refineries in Kenya and Ghana.
