Africa-Press – Tanzania. KILOMBERO Sugar Company Limited (KSCL) has signed a new cane supply agreement with 20 Kilombero Sugarcane Cooperative Unions to manage production and supply during the next two years.
The company’s Managing Director, Mr Guy Williams said the deal would ease sugar business and strengthen the strong relationship between the company and the cane growers, who have been producing and supplying more than 600,000 tonnes of sugar cane every year.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Mr Williams said the current company’s focus is to implement its expansion project worth 240 million US dollars (over 571bn/-), so the signing of the contract is a significant step towards it.
According to him, the project will see the total number of small-scale farmers supplying cane increasing to between 14, 000 and 16, 000 growers from 7,500, and an increase in direct employment by over 2,000 mainly through the increased grower cane supply chain.
“This agreement is very important because it provides us with a guarantee of the sustainable supply of cane as a raw material and confidence in the factory expansion project,” Williams said.
The Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT)’s Legal Officer, Ms Sophia Stanley, said the board will continue to cooperate with the company at all stages of the expansion project, urging farmers to adhere to modern methods of sugar cane cultivation and the Sugar Act requirements.
She further applauded the good relation between the Company and growers demonstrated by signing of this contract as well as the decision by the Company to expand the factory to close the current sugar production gap.
The chairman of Kilombero Sugar cane Farmers’ Union, Mr Onesmo Mwakyambo said, “We (farmers) currently have the capacity of producing more cane than what the factory can crush annually and the quantity as well as quality of our cane has improved this year, particularly due to the improved road infrastructure that has made it easier to transport sugar cane from farms to the factory,”.
The Head of Corporate Affairs for KSCL, Mr Joseph Rugaimukamu thanked the government’s effort on protecting local sugar industries.
The price of sugarcane has increased from 95,112/- per ton during the past season to 103,361/- per ton in the current season.
