Eight associations of farmers who supply sugar cane to the Xinavane sugar mill in Maputo province on Saturday accused the company management of violating its legal obligations to the producers.The associations brought their complaints to the notice of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, at a rally he addressed in Magude district, near the sugar mill.Infanio Cossa, representing the associations, said that among various irregularities, the Xinavane management refused to sign any contract with the farmers, which they regarded as a clear violation of Mozambican labour legislation.“We are eight associations covered by the project of expanding the area planted with sugar cane, that the Xinavane company is undertaking”, said Cossa. “However, our view now is that the company not only expropriates our land, it also pays us practically nothing for the sugar cane we produce”.Cossa pointed out that part of the expansion of Xinavane sugar production is due to the farmers, who sell the company tonnes of cane every year.He claimed that the farmers are grossly underpaid for their cane, and the company “pays us whatever it wants to pay. They often offer us a sum that does not correspond to even half of our production costs”. Infanio Cossa added that when the farmers demand their money, the management of the sugar mill reacts negatively, claiming that it has deducted from the price paid the costs of the various support provided to the farmers during the growing season. However, Cossa said that these costs supposedly paid by the company “never existed”. He claimed that the management “talks of paying wages for a year, but we didn’t receive any wages. He said the claim that the company provided the farmers with transport were also untrue – the farmers live near the sugar cane fields and so do not need any transport from the company. The costs reported by the sugar mill also include allegedely large amounts of fertilizer sold to farmers, which is also denied by the associations.
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