Hippo Valley Estate
Encyclopedia
Chiredzi
Chiredzi is a small town in Masvingo province in south-east Zimbabwe. Together with its sister town of Triangle, it is the major center of sugar production in the country.-Background:...
in Chiredzi District
Chiredzi District
Chiredzi District is found in south-east Zimbabwe in Masvingo Province. The district is the major center of sugar production in the country. Hippo Valley Hospital, found in the district, is one of a numbers of center for HIV/AIDS treatment in the province....
of southeastern Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
,on the Runde River near the border with Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
.
Background
It was established in 1956 as a citrus estate and soon it diversified with the first cane planted three years later in 1959. Canned Hippo Valley fruit was exported across southern AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
until the 1970s. In the wake of the sugar marker crush in 1975, the estate initiated irrigation programs to water its sugar plantations. Today, it is the major producer of sugar and in conjunction with Triangle Estate, has a fifty:fight holding in nearby Mkwasine Estate.
Operations
The sugar plantations cover 124 square kilometres, and the company employs around 5,000 people. The Cane sugar millCane sugar mill
A cane sugar mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw or white sugar.- Processing :Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane, and sometimes bleach it to make "mill white" sugar for local consumption...
of Hippo Valley Estate has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes of sugar per year, mostly raw sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
and brown sugar. It also produces molasses
Molasses
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane, grapes or sugar beets into sugar. The word molasses comes from the Portuguese word melaço, which ultimately comes from mel, the Latin word for "honey". The quality of molasses depends on the maturity of the sugar cane or sugar beet,...
which is then turned into ethanol
Ethanol
Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a...
. It is a major employer of the residents of Tshovani, the lone high density suburb in Chiredzi
Chiredzi
Chiredzi is a small town in Masvingo province in south-east Zimbabwe. Together with its sister town of Triangle, it is the major center of sugar production in the country.-Background:...
.
Stock exchange
The company is a publicly listed company on the Zimbabwean Stock Exchange (under the ticker HIPPO). Tongaat Hulett Sugar is the largest shareholderShareholder
A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....
via its wholly owned subsidiary Triangle Sugar and owns 50.35% of Hippo Valley Estates. Other shareholders include Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...
, the British agro company (10%). Tongaat-Hulett is in turn owned 50.6% by Anglo South Africa Capital.