BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – The country’s sugar industry now produces 17 megawatts of electricity, which it contributes to the national grid.
This transpired during a meeting yesterday between Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini and the Eswatini Sugar Association (ESA) Council. Among those present during the meeting was Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade Manqoba Khumalo.
Speaking on his Facebook page, Dlamini said: “I was happy to learn that the sugar industry is willing to further invest into producing electricity, and that they already contribute 17MW to the national electricity grid. Government will support this as it will help the country improve its energy efficiency. I also urged them to support local companies that want to enter the sugar industry.”
The sugar industry produces electricity at a time when the country is still heavily relying on South African to produce ensure there is electricity. The country is only able to produce about 20 percent of electricity through hydro and other means. The 80 percent is imported from South Africa. The country consumes around 237 megawatts of electricity per year. However, in terms of access to electricity, the country is doing well, as 85 percent of Eswatini’s population now has access to electricity.
Speaking about the meeting with the ESA Council, the Premier said the discussions centred around how Government and the Council could work together to further develop the sugar industry to maintain its stability in the global market. He described the sugar industry as the biggest and strongest sector of the country’s economy.
He said it was one that they were proud of, as His Majesty’s Government, and one they would like to see growing further and becoming more profitable and beneficial to the individual Liswati. He urged the Council to ensure that the industry remained stable in the unlikely event that it lost any of the lucrative markets.
The Council wanted assistance in penetrating the SACU market, among others. They also expressed the desire to venture into value addition as part of the ongoing industrialisation drive, as long as this would not have a negative impact on the industry.
They asked for Government’s support to the growth of the industry, to which they were assured. They further highlighted some of the recent achievements of the industry, which included increased women representation, improved access to markets and the growing number of Emaswati businesses benefitting from the industry.
