Producing ethanol from sugar will rescue cane growers

Swaziland's troubled sugar industry is turning to ethanol production, a petroleum substitute distilled from molasses, as a way to rescue profitability and jobs. "There is a bright future in this. Ethanol prices are going up in Europe, just as sugar prices are declining," John du Plessis, managing director of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC), explained. Sugar was Swaziland's top export earner, thanks to a generous price subsidy from the European Union, which purchases 30 percent of production. However, the industry shuddered last year when Brussels renegotiated its contract to pay 37 percent less - throwing thousands out of work. "This has had a serious consequence for all components of the Swazi Sugar Industry, from the large companies to the small growers. It also has implications for government revenues, since tax obtained from the sugar sector is shrinking as earnings and profitability decline," said Mike Matsebula, chief executive officer of the Swaziland Sugar Association, at an industry meeting last week. Since 2000, the government had encouraged small-landholder farmers to form cooperatives and grow sugar, in an effort to wean them from drought-sensitive crops like the staple food, maize. Declining revenues have seen some cooperatives unable to service bank loans, and fail. "You can eat sugar cane, but not like maize," said Jabu Mkombe, a disillusioned farmer from the eastern Lubombo Region. Ethanol production will open a new market for sugar cane: the RSSC can distil 14 million litres annually, with some sold to Europe as potable ethanol, which is slightly more refined than ethanol and is used to power motor vehicles. A $21 million Ethanol Expansion Project will boost capacity to 32 million litres a year. The South African firm, Logichem, has been working on a $17.3 million distillation facility since September 2005. Automobiles adapted to run on ethanol can be tuned to use an ethanol-gasoline blend of 15 percent ethanol upward, or run on 100 percent ethanol. "The first vehicles in Swaziland to be run entirely on ethanol will be our company cars," said du Plessis. The RSSC is importing two vehicles on a trial basis from Brazil, whose large sugar crop has made it largely energy independent as a result of ethanol. "New legislation in Swaziland is required before we can sell ethanol to government or the general public, but any vehicle can be adapted to ethanol use," said du Plessis. The distillery will absorb all excess molasses production. Export markets in Southern Africa and elsewhere are being explored for Swazi ethanol.