TZ EYES SUGAR SELF-SUFFICIENCY
SHORTAGE of sugar in Tanzania will soon be a history as the country looks to have seven factories producing the sweetener.
This was revealed by Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa during his tour of Mkulazi Sugarcane plantation and the Mbigiri sugar factory project in Morogoro Region yesterday, where he also instructed for immediate intervention from the relevant government ministries and institutions for the equipment to be released for the factory's construction to kick off.
He made the directives after being briefed on progress of the factory where the management asked for intervention on some of the equipment that are said to be stuck at the Dar es Salaam Port.
The instructions would be jointly implemented by the Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Policy, Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Employment, Youth and the Disabled Jenista Mhagama, Permanent Secretary Tixon Nzunda as well as the Minister for Finance and Planning Dr Mwigulu Nchemba.
“We want the construction of this factory to start as soon as possible, there is no need to delay the project, the 21 containers that are stuck at the port should be released,” he instructed.
According to the Premier, the country is currently importing 70,000 tonnes of sugar annually, but with the ongoing industrialisation drive; the country will have seven sugar factories whose production is going to meet domestic demand.
“Here the country will reduce importing sugar,” said the Prime Minister. He went on to commend the board of directors, management and staff of Mkulazi sugar caneplantation and the Migiri sugar factory for proper supervision of the project that has recorded great achievements.
“I was here in 2018, I remember the situation wasn’t the same as I’m seeing today, a lot of efforts have been taken to manage this, I’m so impressed with the transformation that has seen the increase of sugarcanes in the plantations,” he extolled.
“As the construction of the sugar factory is at the foundation stage, I’m encouraging residents surrounding the project areas to venture in sugarcane farming since the demand will be high during operation of the plant," he added.
The Premier also instructed leaders in Kilosa District to support farmers who want to venture in sugarcane plantations by providing them with enough plot according to their needs.
According to Mr Majaliwa, President Samia is determined to improve the economy at national and individual level and the government initiatives should be supported by Tanzanians by making better use of the available opportunities including agriculture.
Present in the tour, the Minister for Energy Dr Medard Kalemani issued a seven day ultimatum for the Kilosa District manager for Tanzania Electricity Company Limited (Tanesco) to connect electricity to farmers who are using generators in their activities.
For his part, the manager for Mkulazi sugarcane plantation Eng Flavian Regonard said they have started harvesting sugarcane in their plantation and the produce is being sold at the Mtibwa sugar factory in Mvomero District.
“This is because our factory is not ready. So far, the sugarcane has been planted in a total of 2,705 hectors and in this year we are planning to add some more 800 hectors,” he said.
In Tanzania, sugar production is concentrated mainly in three regions which are Morogoro, Kagera, and Kilimanjaro.
At present, there are four large sugar estates in Tanzania; a list has the Kilombero Sugar Company, Tanganyika Planting Company, Kagera Sugar and Mtibwa Sugar Estates.
National Leading English Newspaper