South African sugarcane growers will be contributing R640 million over the next five years towards programmes aimed at supporting small-scale grower development and to ensure greater transformation within the industry.

SA Canegrowers fully supports the recent decision taken at a meeting of the South African Sugar Association (SASA) Council to allocate R43 million towards top-up payments for black small-scale growers for the remainder of the 2020/2021 season.

As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to deliver his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, 11 February 2021, the dire state of our nation’s economic health will be front of mind.

The South African Canegrowers Association NPC (SA Canegrowers) welcomes the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa in last night’s State of the Nation Address to buy local sugar.

As Minister Mboweni prepares to deliver his Budget Speech on Wednesday, 24 February 2021 in an economy with record unemployment, the South African Cane Growers Association (SA Canegrowers) call for an immediate decrease to the health promotion levy (HPL) or sugar tax to save the recovery of the local sugar industry and safeguard the one million livelihoods that depend on it.

A total of 16 students recently attended the Junior Certificate Course in sugarcane agriculture facilitated by the South African Sugar Research Institute (SASRI), the majority of whom come from uMlalazi and King Cetshwayo Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, as a result of funding secured by Tongaat Hulett.

The South African Canegrowers Association strongly condemns the criminality that has swept areas in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

The South African Canegrowers Association (SA Canegrowers) is extremely concerned about the impact on the sugar industry of the recent unrest that swept through parts of KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng.

The calls by some public health scholars and the Healthy Living Alliance (HELA) for national government to double the Health Promotion Levy (“sugar tax”) shows zero regard for the impact this tax hike would have on the one million people who rely on the sugar industry for their income, or indeed for any discernible impact the HPL has on reducing obesity levels in South Africa.

Ahead of Minister Godongwana delivering his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) tomorrow, 11 November 2021, SA Canegrowers calls on him to scrap the Health Promotion Levy (HPL or sugar tax).

The Shoprite Group have partnered with SA Canegrowers on its Home Sweet Home campaign to encourage South African consumers to buy locally-produced sugar. 

In his 2021 State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa encouraged the South African government, business, and organized labour to buy local.