Government says Northern Province has great potential for the establishment of sugarcane plantations.

Northern Province Permanent Secretary Elias Kamanga says currently, only Kasama Sugar Estate; one of the three sugar companies in the country, is producing sugar in the Province.

Mr. Kamanga says sugar production in Northern Province is far from meeting both the local and export market demands.

“The Province has enormous water and land resources in the form of hydromorphic areas (marsh or wetlands or dambos) with favorable climatic conditions for commercial sugarcane production that is possible even under irrigation,” said Mr. Kamanga.

The Northern Province Permanent Secretary also says the province has major investment opportunities in agriculture such as establishment of big commercial farms for production of different crops.

He boasts that the province has also opportunities for the establishment of Milling and Stock Feed Plants, establishment of storage sheds for dry agro products, establishment of cold storage warehouses for fresh agro products, establishment of agro product Haulage and Transportations and coffee Production and Processing, agro-input supply for out grower schemes or micro-financing to small scale coffee producers and marketing.

Mr. Kamanga says investment opportunities in agriculture include cultivation of maize, finger millet, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, common beans, soybeans, groundnuts, fruits and vegetables.

“Others are floriculture, coffee, sugarcane, Jatropha, Palm-oil and Moringa production, rearing of livestock such as cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry and honey production. The Northern Province is ranked fourth in maize production, second in groundnut and cassava production in Zambia,” he said.

Mr. Kamanga says as for coffee farming and production, so far Northern Province can be considered as the “Coffee Hub” of the country, contributing about 50% of Zambia’s coffee exports.

“The plantations lie at an altitude of 1,200 – 1,500m along the slopes of the Great Rift Valley, overlooking Africa’s deepest lake – Tanganyika. The plantations, producing coffee of international quality, are found in Kasama, Mungwi and Mbala Districts,” Mr. Kamanga adds.

He however notes that all the other Districts in the Province have excellent agro-climatic conditions with abundant rainfall and irrigation water sources for continuous coffee production.