Industry achieves R1bn investment in transformation

The sugar industry has met its objective of investing more than R1-billion in transformation funding over five years, following the disbursement of transformation funding earlier this year.

Funding has been critical in sustaining the livelihoods of more than 21000 small-scale growers and their farm workers, non-profit company (NPC) SA Canegrowers said in a release.

In January 2024, the South African Sugar Association distributed nearly R176-million in dedicated transformation funding alone.

This brings the total paid out to small-scale and black growers as well as land reform beneficiaries between 2019/20 and 2023/24 to more than R1-billion.

These payments, to which growers contribute 64%, have been distributed biannually over the five-year period.

Through these payments, the industry has been able to help the most vulnerable to absorb the shocks caused by drought and floods, cheap sugar imports, the Health Promotion Levy, Covid-19, and the ongoing crisis in parts of the milling industry.

The funding commitment also supported the objectives of the Sugarcane Value Chain Masterplan, the first threeyear phase of which concluded in 2023.

Since the conclusion of that phase, industry stakeholders have worked together to conceptualise a framework for a second phase of the Masterplan.

This new phase would help to continue the work of the first phase, protecting vital jobs within the industry and restructuring it for a sustainable, diversified future.

“It is essential that government supports the efforts of the industry by reaffirming its commitment to prioritise procurement of locally produced sugar, and by halting all plans to increase the ‘sugar tax’ that has contributed to the hardships faced by the industry,” SA Canegrowers said.

The NPC reiterated its commitment to preserving and expanding opportunities in the industry for young, black and women growers, among others.

However, to achieve this, the industry must overcome the challenges it faces and work together with all industry stakeholders – especially government – to create a policy environment within which new growers can find a foothold and build sustainable livelihoods, the company said.