Sugar output in 2012/13 is expected to increase by almost 16% to 430,000 tons from the 372,000 tons in 2011/12, of which160,000 tons is expected to be exported.
With the integration of the once separately controlled estates at Triangle and Hippo Valley, Hippo Valley Estates Ltd, wholly owned by the South African conglomerate Tongaat Hulett, envisages a total combined capacity of 4.8m tons of cane production, resulting in 600k tons of sugar. With both company funds and external support, channeled through the EU, there has been considerable investment in cane production on ‘uncontested’ private land (mostly in the Chipwa and Mpapa areas).
Private cane growing has expanded dramatically from the relatively small outgrower arrangements that existed in the past. A recent company report notes that “in the current season, 611 indigenous private cane growers, farming 11,138ha and employing 5,569 people will supply 772,000 tons of cane generating $50 million in revenue”.
The company estimates that private growing could increase substantially on the basis of existing mill capacity. They estimate an additional 661 growers farming 12,742 ha could supply 1.4 million tons of cane each year to the Hippo Valley mill, creating employment for 12,000 and additional revenue of $150m. This would amount to a total employment in the sugar industry of 30,000, and a revenue of around $250m – surely be the sweet smell of sugar success.
But to achieve such ambitious targets, and to continue the impressive growth, will require much new investment, not least in rehabilitating and replanting cane fields, and supply new water resources for newly cleared land. Sugar has long been a central part of Zimbabwe’s agricultural economy, providing stable revenues for the treasury, and earlier when part of ACP agreements, benefiting from a guaranteed and profitable market.
Rather overshadowed by the success of the tobacco sector, sugar has not been much in the spotlight, but it deserves to be, says Scoones.
Post published in: News