Valued at $510 million, Africa's biggest ethanol production project will be developed in Mozambique next year, Agriculture Minister Erasmo Muhate said on Oct. 12.
"Under the project, among other things, more than 30,000 hectares of sugar cane will be produced as well as a factory for the production of ethanol from the sugar cane," said the minister.
Most of the ethanol would be exported to Europe and the exports are expected to generate up to $40 million annually, he added.
Mozambique already has a factory producing ethanol, inaugurated in August with a capacity of 80,000 liters per day.
The new project has attracted criticisms from the local media, which said the government should have rather encouraged food production to feed the country's 17 million population.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007
