New sugar factory

A new sugar production plant will start operating in the Chemba district next October, raising the number of sugar factories operating in Sofala province, in central Mozambique, to three, the district administrator said.João Geral Patrício said the factory, a South African investment, will have an installed capacity to produce 50 tonnes of sugar per day,and its raw material will be sugarcane produced in an irrigated area of about 2,500 hectares .Of this area, about 1,000 hectares will be explored directly by the investors and the remaining 1,500 hectares by two agricultural cooperatives with 250 members each, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias.The district administrator said that the launch of this plant, the third after the Companhia de Sena in Marromeu, and the Mafambisse sugar mill in Dondo, is expected to have a direct impact on the lives of the district’s 93,000 inhabitants.Patrício mentioned the initial benefits of job creation, drinking water supply, construction of classrooms and training of young people, as well as training activities directly related to the planting and treatment of sugarcane.The district of Chemba is 565 kilometres from the city of Beira, the provincial capital of Sofala.