Sugar stakeholders urged to uphold professionalism

By The guardian reporter

Dr Mary Nagu, Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office, Investment and Empowerment

The government has appealed to all sugar stakeholders in the country to uphold high level of professionalism and patriotism when dealing with matters concerning production and selling of the vital product in the country.



The Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office, Investment and Empowerment, Dr Mary Nagu made the appeal when opening a one-day meeting involving sugar stakeholders in Morogoro yesterday.

According to Dr Nagu, professionalism and patriotism in the business will benefit farmers, businessmen and consumers.

“We should be transparent, trustworthy and patriotic when handling deals related to sugar farming, production and selling,” she said.

Dr Nagu said the sugar sub-sector needs calmness which in return brings benefits to small, medium and large scale producers as well as consumers.
She said people should adhere to the rules in the open market if real benefits are to be accrued.

“The government is determined to see that the free market economy benefits everyone,” she said.

She appealed to leaders and concerned authorities to intervene whenever there are problems which hinder smooth running of affairs in all important stages from production to the selling of sugar.

“Leaders in this sector should learn to provide sustainable solutions to problems and not abrupt measures which do not last,” she noted.

She said sugar industries need to operate at the optimum level as one way of solving problems surrounding sugar business in Tanzania.

On her part, Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) Director of Investment Facilitation, Nakuala Senzia said the meeting came at the right time when there are a lot of investment opportunities in sugar sub sector.

“There are still a lot of areas to invest in this sub sector in this country,” she said.

She noted that there should be enough sugar production in Tanzania, a measure she said will help reduce some existing problems such as regular price hikes.
“There are several areas that we are preparing for sugar cane plantation investors in order to increase sugar production,” she said.

She mentioned some of the areas as Ngalimila in Kilombero District, Mkulazi in Morogoro and Bagamoyo in Coast Region.

The meeting brought together stakeholders such as Mtibwa Sugar from Morogoro, Kagera Sugar from Kagera, TPC Kilimanjaro, Kilombero Sugar and government officials. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN