Hippo Valley
Hippo Valley Estate is a sugar estate located in the southeastern part of Zimbabwe.
Location:
The estate is near the town of Chiredzi in Chiredzi District, in Masvingo Province on the Runde River near the border with Mozambique.
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 Africa 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 mill of Hippo Valley Estate has a capacity of 300,000 tonnes of sugar per year, mostly raw sugar and brown sugar. It also produces molasses which is then turned into ethanol. It is a major employer of the residents of Tshovani, the lone high density suburb in Chiredzi.
Relationship with Chiredzi:
The company has a special relationship with the town. In addition to providing schools and healthcare facilities, it also supplies all the water used in the town. It also provides employment to the locals and thereby increasing their standard of living.
