Hamilton Jackson Ogwang, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) Zonal Agricultural Development Officer in charge of the Acholi Sub-region told URN Thursday in an interview that production at the factory won’t resume soon.
Atiak Sugar Factory in Amuru district will not resume sugar production anytime now, Uganda Radio Network has established. Atiak Sugar factory temporarily halted operations in May this year after management cited a shortfall in the supply of sugarcane from Amuru and Lamwo District.
The government supported more than 3,000 out growers from both districts through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to supply sugarcane to the factory. Dr. Amina Hersi Moghe, the Chief Executive Officer of Horyal Investments Holding Company Ltd, which is behind Atiak Sugar Factory told URN in an earlier interview that successive fires disrupted sugarcane supplies. She noted that it became impossible to continue running the factory without the essential raw material, sugarcane, prompting the management to temporarily halt production.
The temporary shutdown of business came barely two years after the factory kicked off the production of brown sugar for the domestic market and export. According to the annual Police crime report of 2020, about 3 billion Shillings worth of sugarcanes were lost in repeated fire incidents that razed down thousands of hectares of plantations in Amuru and Lamwo districts.
Dr. Amina at the time however noted that the factory would resume full operation by August this year once sugarcane from Ayuu Alali plantation in Palabek Kal sub-county, Lamwo district matures. “In Lamwo, they have canes, which are still immature but by July or August, they will be ready for the factory and production,” she said.
But Hamilton Jackson Ogwang, the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Naads) Zonal Agricultural Development Officer in charge of the Acholi Sub-region told URN Thursday in an interview that production at the factory won’t resume soon.
He says the sugarcane from Palabek kal, which the factory management had banked on to resume production has lost quality after being left unattended for a long time. He notes that although the sugarcane had been harvested once, the second harvest was burnt down during a fire outbreak making it unfit for production.
Ogwang says that production at the factory will likely resume by late 2023 when the government through Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) has fully mechanized sugar production and sugarcane growing at the two plantations in Amuru and Nwoya.
In November last year, Parliament approved a supplementary budget of Shillings 108 billion to boost the operations of Atiak Sugar Factory. The supplementary budget channeled through Uganda Development Corporation, the government agency with a 40 percent share in Atiak Sugar Factory, is meant to mechanize production at the sugarcane plantation.
Against this background, Ogwang says once inputs for production are procured by UDC, they expect to replough all the plantations for new sugarcane growing. He says all sugarcane within the two plantations in Atiak and Palabek Kal will be cut down for fresh sugarcane growing. For instance, in Palabek Kal, out-growers had planted sugarcane on 5,000 acres of land out of 12,900 acres initially projected while in Atiak Sub-county, 7,900 acres were utilized for sugarcane growing out of 13,481 acres.
According to Ogwang, NAADS intends to plough a total of 60,000 acres of land, out of which 30,000 acres will be in Atiak and another 30,000 acres in Palabek Kal to meet the supply for sustainable sugar production at the Factory.
“The factory may go fully at the end of next year after UDC procures farming machines including irrigation. They are right now in the procurement process and these machines will be delivered by December this year," says Ogwang. Ogwang says by next year, they hope to kick off the planting of new sugarcane.
The Executive Director of UDC, Dr. Patrick Birungi told URN in an interview that contracts for most of the inputs had already been signed adding that the procurement process was already underway. He says they expect to have some of the inputs delivered on-site by the end of this year which will aid the commencement of sugarcane growing by early 2023.
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He notes that next year will be dominated by farming and anticipates that full sugar production at the factory may commence by late 2023 or early 2024. “Farming starts early next year, so next year we will be doing a lot of farming, maybe later in the year or early the other year (2024) that’s when the full operation of the factory is expected to kick off,” says Dr. Birungi.
Both Dr. Amina and Mohamud Abdi Ahmed, the Director of Atiak Sugar Factory didn’t answer repeated phone calls to their known mobile numbers for comments on this article. The multi-billion factory launched in October 202 is expected to offer a ready market for the sugarcane out-growers in the region. Legislators from Acholi Sub-region however in July this year cautioned the government against its continuous funding to the factory citing there was little return to show despite billions of shillings sunk for its operation.
According to the legislators, the government has already spent 300 billion on the venture that is largely owned by a private investor with a 60 percent share.
