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Low Sugar Production in Tanzania Pushes up Imports

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Low Sugar Production in Tanzania Pushes up Imports

(3 Minutes Read)  

The government plans to elevate sugar production from an average of 460,048 tonnes recorded in 2022-23 to 706,000 tonnes by the conclusion of the 2025-26 fiscal year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in Parliament last month

The Tanzania Society of Sugar and Cane Technologists (TSSCT) has cited inadequate sugarcane seedlings as among the factors for the low production of sugar in the country. TSSCT Executive Secretary, Fredrick Charles said that the challenge forces the industrialists to import some 90 percent of the seedlings from countries such as Mauritius, Malawi, and South Africa. Another challenge is the lack of modern machines in local industries.

The government plans to elevate sugar production from an average of 460,048 tonnes recorded in 2022-23 to 706,000 tonnes by the conclusion of the 2025-26 fiscal year, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in Parliament last month. Sugar demand for 2023-24 stands at approximately 807,000 tonnes where 552,000 are earmarked for domestic consumption and the remaining 255,000 for industrial use.

Sugar production has for a while been concentrated in five operational factories namely Kilombero Sugar Company, Tanganyika Planting Company (TPC), Kagera Sugar, Mtibwa Sugar Estates, and Bagamoyo Sugar Factory. The prime minister called upon sugar stakeholders to see a huge opportunity to invest in modern equipment for sugar production to up its availability.

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Representative of the Sugar Board Tanzania (SBT), Mr. George Gowelle, said the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has done trials for the newly produced seedlings and the results are promising. Another project for producing sugarcane seedlings will be introduced in Kilombero District, Morogoro Region, covering a 400-hectare size block farm. Other seedling block farms would be established at the Mtibwa Sugar factory for small-scale farmers and the other one in the Manyara Region.