Hippo Valley Estate
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Hippo Valley Estate is a sugar estate found in the town of Chiredzi in southeastern Zimbabwe,on the Runde River near the border with Mozambique.
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[edit] Background
It was eastablished in 1956 as a citrus estate and soon it diversified with the first cane planted three years later in 1959.[1] Canned Hippo Valley fruit was exported across southern Africa until the 1970s.[2] In the wake of the sugar marker crush in 1975, the estate initiated irrigation programs to water it's sugar plantations.[3] Today day, it is the major producer of sugar and in conjunction with Triangle Estate, has a fifty:fight holding in nearby Mkwasine Estate.[4]
[edit] Operations
The sugar plantations cover 124 square kilometres, and the company employs around 5,000 people. Hippo Valley Estate has a capacity of 300000 tonnes of sugar per year, mostly raw sugar and brown sugar. It also produces molasseses which is then turned into ethanol.[5] It is a major employer of the residents of Tshovani, the lone high density suburb in Chiredzi.
[edit] Stock exchange
The company is a publicly listed company on the Zimbabwean stock exchange (under the ticker HIPPO). The Tongaat-Hulett Group Limited is the largest shareholder via it's wholly-owned subsidiary Triangle Sugar Corporation Limited and owns 50.35% of Hippo Valley Estates. Other shareholders include Tate & Lyle, the British sugar company (10%). Tongaat-Hulett is in turn owned 50.6% by Anglo South Africa Capital (Pty) Ltd
[edit] Relationship with Chiredzi
The company has a special relationship with the town. In addition to providing schools and helathcare facilities, it also provide all the water used in the town.
[edit] Farm Invasions
In 2004, parts of the estate were listed for confiscation by the government of Zimbabwe as part of its land reform project. Hippo valley is an estate encompassed by the triangle estate and the mkwasini estate, all of them producers of sugar plantation. With the advent of farm invasions that started in 2000, many changes have occurred to the estate as some parts of it have been taken over by peasants.[6][7].
[edit] References
- ^ AngloAmerica Ops[1](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ AngloAmerica Ops[2](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ AngloAmerica Ops[3](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ AngloAmerica Ops[4](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ AngloAmerica Ops[5](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ Sugar Shortage Looms[6](accessed 02/28/2008)
- ^ Parliament Report[7](accessed 02/28/2008)
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