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U.S. Ambassador Visits Private Sector Partners In Fight Against Hiv/Aids In Mazabuka

United States Ambassador to Zambia Carmen Martinez on Wednesday, February 8th visited Zambia Sugar Company and Dunavant Zambia Limited in Mazabuka. The two companies have partnered with the U.S. government in an innovative program designed to alleviate the impact of HIV/AIDS on their employees and residents in the surrounding communities.

Both companies are members of the Global Development Alliance (GDA), a private-public partnership between Zambian-based agribusiness companies and the United States government. A similar GDA exists with mining companies. Over the next three years, eight Zambian companies have pledged to spend $5.7 million on HIV/AIDS programs. The U.S. government plans to match those resources with $3.5 Million from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The GDAs are managed through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange, Zambia Sugar is the largest agricultural producer in Zambia with 1,800 employees and 4,000 seasonal workers. Zambia Sugar grows and processes sugar cane in the Mazabuka District, with approximately 35 percent of its cane coming from “outgrowers.” Small farm holders contract with Zambia Sugar to deliver their cane at a set price in exchange for crop inputs. Ambassador Martinez visited some of its facilities, including health care centers and community programs, and spoke with employees and other members of the community who are benefiting from the company’s initiative.

Dunavant Zambia Limited is the country’s leading ginner of cotton supporting small-scale producers with guaranteed pre-planting cotton prices, credit to finance crop inputs, technical support, and marketing services. Dunavant has 730 full-time employees and about 2,700 seasonal workers. The Dunavant distributor network covers over 28 districts and provides social services, including HIV/AIDS programs, to over 180,000 outgrowers with an estimated farmer household population of 1.2 million.

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Ambassador Martinez visited a cotton gin in the Gwembe Valley, observed cotton production, and met distributors, farmers, and village leaders mobilizing their communities for HIV/AIDS counseling and testing under Dunavant’s progressive program.

Dunavant and Zambia Sugar have developed an innovative public-private alliance, reaching out to 10% of Zambia’s population and addressing multiple development challenges. The United States government is pleased to be part of this endeavor aimed at improving the quality of life of farm communities in Zambian.