Mozambique going sweet for sugar
01.01.2010
Mozambique's government is planning to almost double its annual sugar production following soaring sugar prices and an abundance of available arable land.
It hopes favourable markets will increase export earnings and generate jobs.
Production is 300,000 tonnes a year but the plan is to increase this to 500,000 by 2012.
The country now has four of its five sugar mills producing at full capacity, even though they are undergoing expansion.
This is in stark contrast to the time when they lay dormant during the 16 years of the destructive civil war that ended in 1992.
Almost 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of the capital, Maputo, one of the country's sugar mills whirrs; the blaring sound shows it is working full blast.
Mozambique (1) -- Analyses -- 2010
Africa's new oil?
01.01.2010
Some experts claim, if sugar's the new oil Africa's
it just means simply more corruption, conflict and increased poverty for the masses.