Johannesburg — SMALL-SCALE sugar growers in the Amatikulu catchment area of KwaZulu-Natal expect to increase their yield by at least 70% to about 80 tons a hectare as the result of a joint research project by the South African Sugar Association (Sasa) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Small-scale growers farm plots of about 1ha, usually on tribal land. The project is also expected to have a positive environmental effect, especially on a 395ha wetland nearby.

Gavin Lambert, an area manager for Tongaat Hulett Sugar's Amatikulu mill, said this week the company supported the project as the 3000 small growers from the area supply about 4% of the mill's requirements, or 65000 tons of the mill's capacity of 1,8-million tons a year. The total contribution by all small growers is 19% of the mill's requirements.

Martin Eweg, Sasa's regional extension manager, said the project demonstrated best management practices (BMPs) on three plots on one farm. "One plot is covered with natural veld, another is farmed according to traditional methods and a third according to BMP, which includes planting oats during the fallow period before replanting and then ploughing them into the field to increase organic content," he said.

Other BMP methods include modern planting methods, weed control, soil nutrition, later harvesting and fire control.

Virginia Dlamini, one of the farmers , said they were already starting to see results.