KAWA MULTIMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
Sugarcane growing at Natal.
Many countries all over Africa grow sugar to a greater or lesser extent. It grows more easily along Africa's trade wind coasts and with fewer artificial aids than anywhere else. Sugar is a type of grass, a very tall one, and grows well in these areas.
Temperatures are warm enough, over 15°C in the coolest months, and there is rainfall in every month: a very important factor.
At Bacita, near Jebba, on the River Niger, there is a very big plantation. Rainfall is not sufficient in this part of Nigeria and so the plantation takes advantage-of the huge and permanent water supply provided by the man-made lake created by the Kainji Dam. Bacita now supplies at least a quarter of Nigeria's sugar requirements.
Most of Zaire's sugar is grown on plantations in the well watered regions along the railway line between Kinshasa and Zaire's only large port, Matadi. Much of Angola's sugar is also grown near the coast between Luanda and Zaire.
Both of these areas receive rain bearing winds for much of the year, but in Angola a certain amount of irrigation is needed in some months.
A great deal of sugar is normally grown around Jinja in Uganda; and on the Kano Plains not far from Kisumu in Kenya there are thousands of hectares of both plantation and small farmer's sugar cane. The Kilombero valley in Tanzania now produces most of Tanzania's sugar along with projects at Mtibwa, Arusha-Chini and, since 1983, at Kagera.
Almost all Zambia's sugar is grown near Mazabuka, which is on the flat, polder-like land on either side of the River Kafue close to where it joins the Zambezi. Irrigation is vitally necessary there as rainfall is insufficient and irregular. It is supplied by water from the lake behind the great Kafue Dam. Sugar cane needs at least 1000 milli metres of rain each year and prefers much more.
In Africa sugar cane was first grown in the West Coast countries and on islands of the west coast, the Canary and Cape Verde Islands. This first occurred under the Spanish and Portuguese who later took sugar cane across the Atlantic to what are now known as the West Indies. These islands now form one of the largest cane sugar producers in the world; an achievement largely due to the warm and moist tropical marine climate experienced there.
It is a coastal area just outside the Tropic of Capricorn which, at the moment, is the most important cane sugar producing area in Africa. This is Natal, a province of South Africa, where sugar cane was first grown in 1851.
Natal is further away from the Equator than is normal for successful sugar cane growth. But the two factors responsible for the success are the warm southward flowing Mozambique Current and the onshore winds which blow over them, bringing warm moist conditions to the Natal Coast.
Most of Natal's sugar is grown on the coastal plain between Margate and Lake St. Lucia: a distance of some 400 kilometres.. The sugar belt also extends inland as far as 25 kilometres and up to 750 metres altitude around places like Pieter-maritzburg. Soils vary from the flat fertile alluvial soils of coastal delta lands through porous sandy soils to the thin, less fertile soils of the hill and valley sides further inland.
Rainfall in the sugar lands varies a great deal from place to place, ranging from 500 – 1500 millimetres. It is also unreliable at times. On the coastal plain temperatures are always warm and often quite hot.
Further inland towards the 750 metre level slightly lower temperatures mean a rather slower growth rate; but irrigation can still be just as necessary, as 'run off' is greater and evaporation still quite high.
There are well over 362 000 hectares of Natal's farmland devoted to sugar cane, about half of which is harvested each year. Yields averaged between 85 and 95 tonnes of cane per hectare in 1979 while the sugar yield works out at approximately 1 tonne of sugar for 9.1 tonnes of cane.
Temperatures are warm enough, over 15°C in the coolest months, and there is rainfall in every month: a very important factor.
At Bacita, near Jebba, on the River Niger, there is a very big plantation. Rainfall is not sufficient in this part of Nigeria and so the plantation takes advantage-of the huge and permanent water supply provided by the man-made lake created by the Kainji Dam. Bacita now supplies at least a quarter of Nigeria's sugar requirements.
Most of Zaire's sugar is grown on plantations in the well watered regions along the railway line between Kinshasa and Zaire's only large port, Matadi. Much of Angola's sugar is also grown near the coast between Luanda and Zaire.
Both of these areas receive rain bearing winds for much of the year, but in Angola a certain amount of irrigation is needed in some months.
A great deal of sugar is normally grown around Jinja in Uganda; and on the Kano Plains not far from Kisumu in Kenya there are thousands of hectares of both plantation and small farmer's sugar cane. The Kilombero valley in Tanzania now produces most of Tanzania's sugar along with projects at Mtibwa, Arusha-Chini and, since 1983, at Kagera.
Almost all Zambia's sugar is grown near Mazabuka, which is on the flat, polder-like land on either side of the River Kafue close to where it joins the Zambezi. Irrigation is vitally necessary there as rainfall is insufficient and irregular. It is supplied by water from the lake behind the great Kafue Dam. Sugar cane needs at least 1000 milli metres of rain each year and prefers much more.
In Africa sugar cane was first grown in the West Coast countries and on islands of the west coast, the Canary and Cape Verde Islands. This first occurred under the Spanish and Portuguese who later took sugar cane across the Atlantic to what are now known as the West Indies. These islands now form one of the largest cane sugar producers in the world; an achievement largely due to the warm and moist tropical marine climate experienced there.
It is a coastal area just outside the Tropic of Capricorn which, at the moment, is the most important cane sugar producing area in Africa. This is Natal, a province of South Africa, where sugar cane was first grown in 1851.
Natal is further away from the Equator than is normal for successful sugar cane growth. But the two factors responsible for the success are the warm southward flowing Mozambique Current and the onshore winds which blow over them, bringing warm moist conditions to the Natal Coast.
Most of Natal's sugar is grown on the coastal plain between Margate and Lake St. Lucia: a distance of some 400 kilometres.. The sugar belt also extends inland as far as 25 kilometres and up to 750 metres altitude around places like Pieter-maritzburg. Soils vary from the flat fertile alluvial soils of coastal delta lands through porous sandy soils to the thin, less fertile soils of the hill and valley sides further inland.
Rainfall in the sugar lands varies a great deal from place to place, ranging from 500 – 1500 millimetres. It is also unreliable at times. On the coastal plain temperatures are always warm and often quite hot.
Further inland towards the 750 metre level slightly lower temperatures mean a rather slower growth rate; but irrigation can still be just as necessary, as 'run off' is greater and evaporation still quite high.
There are well over 362 000 hectares of Natal's farmland devoted to sugar cane, about half of which is harvested each year. Yields averaged between 85 and 95 tonnes of cane per hectare in 1979 while the sugar yield works out at approximately 1 tonne of sugar for 9.1 tonnes of cane.