• Sugarcane production is one of the important commercial crops.
• Local farmers should begin growing sugarcane on a larger scale.
• Demand for sugar exports from Brazil amid the Coronavirus pandemic is huge.

Zambia’s Ambassador to Brazil has called on Zambian farmers to increase sugarcane production so as to transform the country into a vibrant sugar producer and exporter.
Speaking during a meeting organized by Brazil’s Sugarcane Association Producers in Pirajuba, Brazil, Dr. Alfreda Kansembe-Mwamba said Sugarcane production is one of the important commercial crops that contribute significantly to socio-economic development in line with the National Agricultural policy.
Dr. Kansembe further urged local farmers to begin growing sugarcane on a larger scale in order to compete on the export Market.
She said farmers must consider strengthening the Sugar Industry as it can also help in the biofuel, ethanol and green energy production, adding that the unity shown by the Sugarcane Association in Brazil towards growing the sugar industry is a move worth emulating.
And President of Brazil’s Sugarcane Association, Daine Frangisoi advised farmers on the African continent to grow sugarcane on a larger scale to compete with Latin America.
“Farmers in the Sugarcane Industry have formed an Association that oversees the growth of the Industry making it possible to produce 29.93 million metric tons of sugar, which makes the farmers support the government in the socio-economic development of the nation,” he said.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s largest sugar producer Usina Coruripe Regional Manager for Sustainability, Bertholdino Teixeira disclosed that the demand for sugar exports from Brazil amid the Corona-Virus pandemic is huge, a situation which makes the industry boom.

Usina Coruripe Administrative Manager Milena Marinho emphasized the need for SADC countries to invest more in the production of Sugar for export as the commodity is constantly on high demand.
Brazil is the world’s largest sugar producer and a major net exporter of raw sugar, having exported 18.3 million metric tons of raw and white sugar in the last farming season.
This is contained in a statement issued by First Secretary for Press and Public Relations at the Zambian Embassy in Brazil, Grace Makowane.