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Sugar production costs not so sweet, says PS
2006-09-09 09:32:01
By Felix Andrew
One of the biggest bottlenecks of the sugar industry in East Africa is high production costs as compared to countries outside the region, according to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Peniel Lyimo.
”We need to put up immediate remedies to make our sugar more competitive, even outside the region,” he said addressing East African sugar stakeholders meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
Sugar production costs in the EA were on the higher side compared with other countries within the SADC and COMESA blocs,” Lyimo said.
The meeting,organised by the Sugar Board of Tanzania (SBT) attracted stakeholders from Kenya, Uganda and the hosts, Tanzania.
”The sugar sector in the region faces many challenges. We need to improve productivity by utilising modern technology, use good cane seed varieties as well as good husbandry practices,” he said.
Another challenge to EA region was trade imbalances in the world market with respect to sugar dumping and subsidies, he said.
”This causes instability in the world prices and limited access to external markets due to protectionism and barriers to trade,” he said.
According to him, the matter ought to be critically addressed since the cost of production and efficiency are not the only determinants of markets access in the world market.
He said sugar industries in the region were still at infant stage as compared to the developed sugar economies.
Despite the challenges, EA countries have been experiencing growing demands of sugar in relation to ability to supply, he said.
Statistics shows in 2005, EA partners states jointly produced over 913, 014 metric tons of sugar and exported 41, 909 metric tonnes of the same.
SBT Director General, Mathew Kombe said the meeting would assist the stakeholders to address the challenges, which are facing the development of sugar industry in the region.
Various papers concerning the challenges and development of sugar industry were presented.
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