The director of the government’s Agricultural Promotion Centre (CEPAGRI), Roberto Albino, told APA in an interview that results from the increase in the area under sugarcane cultivation and expansion programmes by sugar factories was “going to be better this year.”

“Sugar factories are expanding and increasing production. They have increased the areas under cultivation and we are sure that we will be able to produce a total of 419,000 metric tonnes this season from last year’s 250,191 metric tonnes,” Albino said.

He said all four sugar plantations — Xinavane and Maragra in the southern Maputo province, Marromeu and Mafambisse in the central province of Sofala — have expanded as a result of the implementation of the Plan of Action for the sugar sector in 2008.

“We are definitely going to have a better season and we are aiming to grow half a million metric tonnes in the next years”, Albino said.

Mozambique sugar seasons run between April and October.

Currently the sugar produced in Mozambique is sold to the domestic market and exported to the European Union (EU), as part of the ACP/EU “Everything But Arms” Initiative, and the government is opening up new markets such as such as Egypt, the Seychelles and Indonesia.

In 1972, Mozambique was the world\\\’s fourth-largest sugar exporter after Mauritius, South Africa and Egypt, but 16 years of a devastating civil war wrecked the entire infrastructure bringing production next to nothing.

Source: APA