Grand projects to up sugar production
TANZANIA: The Tanzania Sugar Producers Association (TSPA) announced expansion projects by Kilombero Sugar, Bagamoyo Sugar, Kagera Sugar, TPC, and Mtibwa Sugar, aiming to meet local demand and achieve a surplus by 2024/25. Local production hit 460,200 tonnes in 2023, reducing the sugar gap to 30,000 tonnes. TSPA projects a production capacity of 528,000 to 663,000 tonnes by 2025/26, creating over 25,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs.
TANZANIA: THE country’s major sugar producers on Monday unveiled their major projects that would see local supply meeting the demand and registering surplus.
Under their auspices, the Tanzania Sugar Producers Association (TSPA), the industrialists stated that the ongoing expansion of their firms and sugar cane farms are going to achieve sufficient sugar production in the country by the end of 2024/25 fiscal year.
The TSPA is composed of about five major sugar producing firms in Tanzania namely Kilombero Sugar Company Limited, Bagamoyo Sugar Limited, Kagera Sugar Limited, TPC Limited and Mtibwa Sugar Estate limited.
In a press statement released on Monday, TSPA unveiled its current sugar production’s situation and key projects under execution, which will address the recurring sugar shortage, that in turn led to soaring prices and affected local sugar supply in the country.
Currently local sugar firms contribute 93 per cent of the total demand of 490,000 tonnes per year.
The association noted that local sugar production reached 460,200 tonnes in 2023 from about 300,000 tonnes in 2015 as the result of collaboration between the firms and the government on safeguarding local investment and preventing irregular sugar imports.
It also said that friendly investment climate has been enabling local investors to inject more capital for expanding their firms, which considerably reduced the sugar gap to 30,000 tonnes by the end of last year from 144,000 tonnes in 2017.
“As a result of the government’s deliberate efforts on protecting local sugar industries and sugar cane growers in the past three years, currently local industries are undertaking intensive expansion on sugarcane growing and processing to mitigate the sugar shortage by the end of 2024/25 financial year,” read the association’s statement.
TSPA assured that under the ongoing ambitious projects, the sugar production capacity will reach between 528,000 and 663,000 tonnes by 2025/26 fiscal year.
Earlier, Director of the Bagamoyo Sugar Limited, Mr Hussein Sufian in a meeting with journalists organised by TSPA highlighted various major projects as including expansion of the Bagamoyo sugar industry from producing 30,000 tonnes of sugar to 60,000 tonnes.
More significantly, he said the Kilombero Sugar industry is currently undertaking an expansion project worth 744bn/- including the construction of the modern sugar plant which will raise production from 127,000 tonnes to 271,000 tonnes.
He said the new firm in the Kilombero sugar industry is due to start in July 2025. Furthermore, he said sugarcane production at the Kilombero will increase to 1.7 million tonnes from 600,000 produced currently.
Mr Sufian also noted that great expansion at the implementation of the Kagera Sugar will involve installation of modern machines and irrigation system.
This will also include expanding sugarcane farms to produce 230,000 tonnes from 131,000 tonnes in the coming next three production seasons.
In terms of job creation, he said so far the sector provides over 25,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs with the ongoing expansion expected to hire more citizens in the near future.
Source Link: https://dailynews.co.tz/grand-projects-to-up-sugar-production/
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