Tanzania moves to boost sugarcane production

Dar es Salaam [Tanzania], July 17 (ANI/Xinhua): Tanzanian authorities on Sunday announced measures they were taking to boost the production of sugarcane that will lead to ending sugar scarcity in the East African nation.
Hussein Bashe, the minister of Agriculture, said the measures included the construction of irrigation schemes for small-scale sugarcane growers in sugarcane growing regions.
Bashe directed the Sugar Board of Tanzania and the National Irrigation Commission to earmark areas in sugarcane growing regions for the construction of irrigation schemes.
“Most of the sugarcane grown by smallholders in the country is rain-dependent. We should stop this and use irrigation,” Bashe told a meeting of sugar stakeholders in the Morogoro region organized by the Sugar Board of Tanzania.
He said another measure was to mobilize production and use quality sugarcane seedlings that will produce better yields.
Bashe also directed the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) to research high-yielding sugarcane seedlings.
Kenneth Bengesi, the director general of the Sugar Board of Tanzania, said the lack of sufficient sugarcane was the reason behind the poor production of sugar in the country.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania’s annual demand for domestic sugar is about 470,000 metric tons while the country’s five sugar processing factories only have the capacity of producing 378,000 metric tons annually. (ANI/Xinhua)