Proceedings of the South & East African combined agricultural, cotton, entomological and mycological conference held at Nairobi, August, 1926

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1738588467

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-115043

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Proceedings of the South & East African combined agricultural, cotton, entomological and mycological conference held at Nairobi, August, 1926

Place of publication:: Nairobi

Publisher:: East African Standard

Year of publication:: 1926

Scope:: VI, 337 Seiten; Ill.

Digitisation:: 2020

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Part II. Agriculture

Collection:: Economics Books

PART IT. a reasonable distance to the mill, is about 6/- per ton, or in terms of one gallon of alcohol, 43d. At this price alcohol could be manu- factured cheaply, but there is such a great demand for sugar that it is a much more profitable substance to produce. Two and a half tons of sugar are obtained from each acre of cane, and the cost of manufacturing it on a large scale in a modern mill is from £11 to £12, even when the labour employed is wholly white, as in Australia. The local wholesale price of sugar is £35 a ton, and the manufacturers could hardly be expected to undertake the production of alcohol instead of sugar, for it would not pay them unless the alcohol was retailed to yield a profit of 2/- per gallon. CaNE Morrasses: Cane Molasses, which as a by-product of sugar manufacture costs practically nothing, offers the greatest possibilities as a source of alcohol. Canada manufactures industrial alcohol from molasses which she imports from the West Indies, and if the industry is able to bear transport of the raw material to this extent there is no reason why alcohol production should not be possible in Kenya where molasses is produced Alcohol can be produced cheaply from molasses and the establish- ment of a distilling industry in Kenya will depend upon the molasses output. The smallest distilling unit which it is stated can be run profitably has an output of 900—1,000 gallons of alcohol per 'day of 24 hours. The composition of final molasses varies, but 569, may be taken as the average sugar content expressed as invert sugar, and on a commercial scale a yield of 73 gallons of alcohol per ton is obtained. Therefore in order to feed the smallest distilling unit 183—14 tons or about 2,000 gallons of molasses will be required daily. The Victoria Nyanza Sugar Company is the only mill in Kenya at present operating on a scale large enough to undertake the manu- facture of alcohol. Its crushing capacity is about 375 tons per day and when working at full pressure the daily output of molasses is about eleven tons or 1,800 gallons. Thus during the crushing season Miwani could produce 700 to 800 gallons of alcohol daily, and although this is less than that required for the most economical working, there is no reason why the manufacture of alcohol should not be undertaken. Rather than run this large quantity of molasses to waste, it would be sound policy to supplement it with other fermentable material in order to increase the daily output of alcohol to 1,000 gallons. Cassava appears to be a most suitable supplementary material, for not only does it give a high yield of alcohol per acre but the roots can be stored and used for supplying the distillery in the off-season when crushing has ceased. Also it could with advantage be introduced into a rotation with cane. During the crushing season one to two acres of Cassava per day should be sufficient to supplement the molasses output and in the off-season when the mill has closed down the distillery could be kept running on 4—8 acres of Cassava per day according to yield. At Miwani the crop should grow well on the lighter soil towards the foot of the Escarpment. 44

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