Sugar production is expected to drop to 390 000 during the 2017/18 agricultural season, from 453 000 tonnes during the 2016/2017 production season

SUGAR production in Zimbabwe is projected to fall by 14 percent due to limited irrigation and narrowed replanting, a leading industry player, Hippo Valley Estates Limited, has said.
Production is expected to drop to 390 000 during the 2017/18 agricultural season, from 453 000 tonnes during the 2016/2017 production season, which translates to 63 000 tonnes or 13,9 percent.
Despite the predicted drop in production, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange listed Hippo Valley has ­ in a commentary accompanying results for the half year ended September 30, 2017, forecast output to rise during the 2018/2019 season to
517 000 tonnes, riding on several programmes underway to rebuild the industry.
The measures include increased replanting. Leading players in the sector include Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle. Other throughput comes from small scale cane producers and out growers that produce the crop on behalf of the big producers.
The 517 000 tonnes falls far short of the industry’s installed capacity of 600 000 tonnes, which producers have been failing to achieve since a reconfiguration of the sector took place post 2000.
Under government’s agrarian reforms, underfunded and inexperienced farmers took over large swaths of cane estates previously controlled by white commercial farmers.
In addition, several years of poor rainfall in the past decade have affected irrigation.
In its statement, Hippo Valley expressed concern that production would continue to be affected by reduced irrigation.
“Total industry sugar production for 2017/18 is expected to be between 390 000 tonnes and 410 000 tonnes compared to 453 000 tonnes in 2016/2017,” Hippo Valley said.
“The 2017/18 crop will continue to be impacted by the reduced irrigation and limited replanting that was necessary during 2016. The current dam levels following the good rains at the end of 2016 into 2017 are providing full irrigation during 2017/18 leading to a significant crop recovery by 2018/19.
“Based on a full irrigation regime, the agricultural improvement initiatives and the accelerated planting programme now underway, total industry production is expected to reach between 502 000 and 517 000 tonnes in 2018/2019,” the report added.
In October, the Commercial Farmer Union (CFU) said the sugar industry experienced a good season last year.
The CFU said the industry produced 453 000 tonnes of sugar from 3,5 million tonnes of cane at an average cane to sugar ratio of 7,68 in 2016, an increase of 41 000 tonnes of sugar on prior year.
“Any reduction in yield due to the drought, late rains and water conservation management would only be seen once this year’s crop has been harvested. Areas abandoned due to water shortages last season (2016) are in the process of being replanted and will start to yield in 2018,” said CFU Masvingo region chairman Mike Clark at the CFU congress.
“There has been a bit of turmoil between the new farmers and the millers over the pricing arrangements, but this can be resolved. There has also been a problem with new land claimants on Triangle expecting the millers to pay for their own cane. This was even despite instruction from the President Robert Mugabe that existing cane fields should be left alone and any new settlement should take place on undeveloped areas with the cooperation of Triangle. One great disappointment though has been the attempted acquisition and occupation of several of the (only) white owned Mpapa settlement sugar farms,” Clark added.
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