April 15 - Zambia Sugar PLC's expansion project is on track despite being disrupted by a heavy rainy season and flooding since late last year, a senior company official said Tuesday.
Zambia Sugar's Managing Director Paul De Robillard said expansion of company farmlands and extension of the irrigation canals are on track to enable the company to produce up to 440,000 metric tons of sugar by 2010.
Since late last year, Zambia has been experiencing an unusually heavy rainy season which caused flooding in Mazabuka district, where the company is located. This hampered the progress of the expansion project. However, the rains have since subsided to allow the company to carry on with the work which is expected to boost company sugar output by up to 80%.
Zambia Sugar has so far completed clearing up to 2,500 hectares of land to expand its plantations with irrigation canals of up to 32 kilometers being constructed to irrigate the plantations. The company is also in the process of aiding small scale commercial cane farmers and outgrowers to expand their farmlands to increase cane supply to the company plant.
Up to 840 billion Zambian Kwacha ($227 million) is being spent on the expansion project, according to company data.
Changing weather patterns continue to affect Zambia's sugar output, according to De Robillard. Last year, the heavy rainy season disrupted cane harvesting of Zambia Sugar, which cut the company's total sugar output to 244,850 metric tons from 255,000 tons in 2006. The company had earlier projected output of 270,000 tons of sugar in 2007.
Zambia Sugar is majority owned by South Africa-based Illovo Sugar.