By Beatific Gumbwanda
MASVINGO – Government has fixed the price of sugarcane delivered by private growers to
millers at US$72.40 per tonne, overriding what growers and millers have agreed in their
contracts.
The price is set out in Statutory Instrument 174 of 2026, the Sugar Production Control
(Notification of Sugar Cane Purchase Price) Regulations, 2026, published in a Government
Gazette supplement dated October 30, 2026.
According to the instrument, the Minister of Industry and Commerce made the regulations after
consultation with the Minister responsible for Agriculture and the Zimbabwe Sugar Association,
in terms of sections 10 and 18 of the Sugar Production Control Act [Chapter 18:19].
“Notwithstanding the terms of a Cane Purchase Agreement between a miller and a private
grower, the price of sugarcane delivered by a private grower to a miller shall, from the effective
date, be US$72.40 per tonne,” reads part of the instrument.
The regulations define a Cane Purchase Agreement as an agreement between a grower and a
miller which governs the terms on which the miller shall pay the grower for the sugarcane
delivered by the grower to the miller.
The regulations also move the payment deadline under Section 3(2) from the 15th of every
month to the 8th of every month.
“Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the miller and a private grower, pay the private grower
for the sugarcane delivered… on or before the 8th day of the month following that in which the
sugarcane is delivered,” reads the instrument.
“Any person who contravenes these regulations shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine
not exceeding level 5 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such
fine and such imprisonment.”
Company officials are not spared either. Section 4(2) says that where a body corporate commits
an offence, every director, manager or principal officer who was knowingly party to the
commission of the offence shall be personally liable to the penalties prescribed in subsection (1).
Contacted for comment, Sugarcane Outgrowers Apex Council Chairperson Bernadette
Chipembere Tamba said they were happy with the SI, saying it binds both the farmer and the
miller, unlike previously where they would spend a lot of time on the negotiating table.
“The SI binds us both, and we have a starting point of negotiation as it allows us to. At least we
have a guideline, and we will be bound by that, so the negotiations will be simple,” said Tamba.
The price is normally settled through negotiations under the Cane Purchase Agreement and Cane
Milling Agreement, the two main agreements governing the relationship between growers and
millers. The process is closely watched in the Lowveld, particularly around Chiredzi and the
Triangle and Hippo Valley estates, because the agreed price per tonne determines the viability of
the coming season for small-scale and large-scale growers alike.
Earlier this year, the Zimbabwe Sugar Association sought to calm farmers’ anxiety over the
2026/27 price talks.
“The negotiators are busy at work, and so far, the negotiations have not produced a deadlock,”
the association said in a March media release.
The association also said its secretariat was not directly involved in structuring the talks, adding
that the agreements allow parties to declare their positions and formally declare a deadlock if one
arises. It warned that a prolonged standoff could disrupt “planting schedules, financing
arrangements, and the broader supply chain” that underpins the industry.
