Sudan announces ambitious plan for sugar production

March 6, 2008 (KENANA) — Sudanese Minister of Industry Jalal Yousif Al-Degair has announced an ambitious plan for sugar production in the country aiming at cultivation of an area of 4.1 million feddans with sugar cane.

Al-Degair was speaking at the Council of Ministers session on Thursday headed by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir. The meeting was held exceptionally at the headquarters of Sudan’s Kenana Sugar Company in the White Nile State.

The minister pointed out that the new sugar projects include the White Nile, Sabina Al-Ramash, Ballah, Al-Dewaim, Gezira, Sharaq Al-Nil and other project is southern Sudan. He added that the plan focused on optimum utilization to residue of sugar industry, especially biogas besides production of fodders and other products.

Al-Degair affirmed that the White Nile Sugar Project will produce more than 450,000 tonnes of sugar annually.

The minister said the irrigation system in the project would be completed by the end of the current month as operations of cultivation of sugar cane would begin next April and production will start in 2009.

The Sudanese cabinet has issued a decision banning importation of white sugar, except in cases of utmost necessity, where it can be imported as raw and to be refined at Sudanese sugar factories.

The Council of Ministers also approved the sugar production package as a strategic industry as presented by the Minister for Industry.

The package includes the use of some existing agricultural projects that have some basic infrastructure such as irrigation channels, with the view to bring down cost and transfer them into sugar and carrot production projects.

It will include the use of ethanol for energy production. The plan also envisages fodder export with a target of over two billion dollars.

(ST)