Sena

Sena, town, central Mozambique, on the Zambezi River. A river port and railway junction, it has an economy based on sugarcane cultivation and processing. Sena Sugar Estates Ltd., a formerly British-owned company that was granted a large land subconcession from the Zambezia Company, had estates at Luabo and Marromeu in the Zambezi River delta and also operated a copra plantation near Chinde, a forestry concession, and a cattle ranch near Luabo. In the mid-1960s it was the largest firm in Mozambique, with more than 10,000 employees. The company was centred in Sena and built sugar refineries nearby on the lower Zambezi River. Sugarcane is still processed there, although the company was nationalized in 1978 after Mozambique’s independence, and its operation was turned over to Cuban experts. A rail spur connects the sugar refineries to the Beira Railway. Pop. (latest est.) city, 102,000.