adminmarket, an official said on Friday.
Like cotton, the price of raw sugar is largely determined on the international market.
Commercial Sugarcane Producers’ Association of Zimbabwe secretary-general Mr Darlington Chiwa said that the price will be reviewed on a monthly basis.
“The projected mill dough price of raw sugar has been agreed at US$627,67 per tonne and we will continue to see how the price will fare on the global market.
“If the price increases on the global market, farmers will get their bonuses or top up payments,” he said.
Mr Chiwa added that the price was lower than what farmers had anticipated.
“The price is not encouraging especially considering that we are incurring high production costs spurred by water charges, labour costs, high interest rates and exorbitant input prices,” he said.
Sugarcane is grown on a commercial scale in the south-eastern parts of Zimbabwe which include Chisumbanje and Chiredzi in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces respectively.
Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association chairman Mr Edmore Veterai said sugarcane harvesting which started last month was running smoothly.
“The harvesting is going on well and we expect it to run until December this year. We are only facing the challenge of inadequate irrigation water in the Lowveld as some dams that supply us are not full to capacity,” Mr Veterai said.
The farmers, he said, had approached development partners for the construction of more dams to augment the existing ones.
“Currently, we are engaging donors and Government to build more dams and soon we will be making a pronouncement on that because we believe sugar can turn around this economy.”
Small-scale sugarcane farmers in the Lowveld are expecting to produce 65 tonnes per hectare following heavy rains received in the country early this year.
The area to be harvested has also increased by 22 percent to 13 700 hectares in 2013 from 11 200 in 2012. — New Ziana.
Online Reporter