- Business at the factory has been at a standstill for two years
- The factory has received 50% of the machines needed to boost productivity
Image: Courtesy photo
Atiak sugar factory is set to resume production by the end of 2024.
Business at the factory that is located in Atiak Sub county ,Amuru District came to a standstill for two years following wildfires incident which destroyed over 3,000 acres of sugarcane out of the 7,900 acres of the plantation .
During a media visit to the factory, Mohamud Ahmed , the Director of Planning and Business Development revealed that the Uganda government through Uganda Development Bank started delivering machines and equipment meant for the mechanized operations of the Factory which will soon lead to the production.
Ahmed added that they have so far received 50% of the total orders of machinery needed to boost productivity. Machines Include sugar cane harvester, 42 trucks out of 87 needed, and 36 heavy-duty tractors out of 47, among others.
He explained that the machines were purchased jointly with the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) through a sh108 billion loan supplementary budget passed by the Parliament in the financial year 2022/23 to fund the mechanization at the factory.
‘’The investment of 5000 houses and other services like hospitals, bars, restaurants plus more services required to house 5000 people would be more money than we would spend to mechanize these activities” Abdi noted.
Bunty Seeruttun, the Director of Agriculture at “Horyal Investment Holding Company”, a company which owns a 51% majority share in the factory , said that the factory intends to recruit young and energetic people who will be trained by experts on operating the acquired machines.
He revealed that they have revived , atleast 350 hectares of burned sugarcane to a healthy stage adding that they will be turned into seed cane for the project as the factory gets ready to resume sugar production come 2024.
Seeruttun announced that the factory is heavily investing in irrigation to prevent several risks such as fire outbreak, climate change that have always affected the plantation.
“The factory has embarked on constructing four irrigation dams with a capacity to store two million cubic meters of water” he stated.
Benson Ongom, the Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations at Atiak Sugar Factory said that they introduced a model through which sugarcane farmers will directly benefit from the organisation.
He explained that they have established "Horyal Foundation" an organisation that will directly support outgrowers from the region unlike in the previous model where the government was in charge of the out-growers.
Ongom narrated that they have been receiving complaints from out growers over the previous model adding that the current model that will soon be launched will highly improve works of the company.
The factory that is expected to produce around 90 tons of sugar per acre looks forward to recruiting the majority of the workers from the local communities in the Acholi sub region.