SD hopes to remain top sugar producer

GOVERNMENT hopes to maintain its position of being among the world’s top five producers of sugar, in terms of efficiency.
“Government, together with its strategic partner, which is the EU at the moment, is looking at ways to improve the industry,” said Restructuring and Diversification Management Unit (RDMU) Economist David Myeni.
He said the National Adaptation Strategy (NAS), prepared by government in 2007, hopes to minimise the adverse effects of the European Union’s (EU) sugar reform on the local industry and wider national economy.
“The NAS is looking to enhance the contribution of smallholder sugar cane growers to the industry as well as to enhance productivity and competitiveness of the industry. We need to attend to the issues affecting these farmers and their needs.”

He said following the new EU sugar regime, there was a need to reduce operational costs, which were a hindrance for smallholder growers to ensure that the country maintains its position of being in the top five producers in the world.
Myeni said the task of the NAS was to generate lessons and come up with programmes that would help sugar cane growers achieve maximum production.
“We want to say farmers can make a difference through the production of sugar cane,” he added.
The NAS was developed in conjunction with key stakeholders in the local sugar industry, these being the Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA), Swaziland Cane Growers Association (SCGA), Swaziland Water and Agriculture Development Enterprise (SWADE), civil society, represented by the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) and the EU.
Its key objectives include developing a proactive strategy for responding to the EU sugar sector reform and to minimise the adverse effects of these on the Swazi sugar industry and wider economy.
These would be achieved through ensuring that the sugar industry remains sustainable and continues to play a vital role in the development of the country’s economy.
Also, it would be achieved through supporting the potential to maximise the industry’s productivity, efficiency and competitiveness as well as restructuring operations and possibly, diversifying where there is a need to ensure that the EU reforms must not leave society worse off.
The RDMU has been assigned to coordinate the implementation of the national strategy on behalf of the ministry of economic planning and development through a programme being financed by the EU.