SA to boost Zambia sugar industry

Lusaka - President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday unveiled a R1.7bn sugar investment in Zambia to help boost the copper dependent country's agricultural sector.

"It is therefore a great honour for me to be able to commission Zambia's biggest agriculture project, this sugar plantation here at Mazabuka, highlighting the R1.7bn investment by Illovo.

"We know that the current global financial and economic crisis and climate change will impact negatively on our countries. However we should not allow this to result in further marginalisation of Africa," Zuma said.

The launch of the Nakambala Sugar expansion project in Mazabuka south of the capital by South African sugar giant Illovo Limited would enable the country to move from copper dependence to agriculture, Zuma said.

The country is now South African biggest trading partner in the region.

Zambia Sugar PLC board chairman Don Macleod said the investment would not increase its sugar production but its land capacity.

"As Zambia Sugar we have not only more than doubled the milling capacity of the factory to in excess of 200 000 tons of sugar but we have also expanded our own land under cane by 3 000 hectares and combined with the 7 000 hectares (17 000 acres) developed by our partners at Nakambala, the out growers," Macleod said.

President Zuma, who was in Zambia for a three-day state visit at which various cooperation agreements and memorandum of understanding were signed left for South Africa late on Wednesday.

- AFP