M a r k e t N e w s
Tanzania: Zanzibaris Urged to Support Industrial Economy Efforts
Posted on : Wednesday, 5th October 2016
Zanzibar — The Zanzibar Minister for Trade, Industry and Marketing, Ambassador Amina Salum Ali, has appealed to members of the public to support government's efforts in making the islands an industrial country.
"Yes. It is possible to turn our dream into reality. We can have many light industries, which will definitely create jobs and boost our economy," Ms Ali said here yesterday when officially launching the sale of Zanzibar sugar.
The sugar, with the brand name of 'Kisiwa', is produced by the Zanzibar Sugar Factory Limited (ZSFL) at Mahonda Village, in North Unguja Region. The factory is being revamped after being closed for almost two decades.
Shanta Sugar Holding from India, which has invested about 40 million US dollars in the sugar project, has been running the industry after a major overhaul, including change of machinery. It started production in March this year with a production of 384 metric tonnes.
According to the Head of the Project, Mr Tushar Mehta, the official launch yesterday was done with their second production of 3,233 metric tonnes (MT) until the end of last month, but projecting to produce 4,200 MT by the end of this month.
Ms Ali appealed to Zanzibaris to show their support in establishing industries by buying and use the home Sugar, and stop sabotage or destroy of sugarcane by putting fire in the plantation.
"Let us prove to the world that this is the best place for investments. Be friendly to investors and protect their projects because it benefits us all," the minister said as Mr Mehta mentioned multiple challenges facing the sugar industry.
"In addition to frequent destruction of canes in the plantations, we have insufficient land, lack of housing for our staff and while access to the market on Tanzania Mainland remains a problem," noted Mr Mehta.
He said the factory has only sold 794MT out of the 3,233MT in stock because access to the Mainland market was not easy in addition to the saturation of the Zanzibar market with sugar imported from abroad.
In response to the claims, minister promised, in addition to current 1,250 hectares, to find additional 3,500 hectares of land for sugar cane growing; remove obstacles in accessing the market on Tanzania Mainland and ensure that there is no more torching of sugarcane plantations.
Source : allafrica.com
