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Amuru, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government has started delivering machines and equipment meant for the mechanized operations of Atiak Sugar Factory in the Northern Uganda district of Amuru.
The machines have been purchased by the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) through a sh108 billion supplementary budget passed by the Parliament in the financial year 2022/23.
The supplementary budget was meant to transform the operation of the factory from labor-intensive to mechanization in a move aimed at boosting productivity both at the factory plant and the sugarcane plantation.
Atiak Sugar Factory in which Horyal Investment Holding Company enjoys a 51 percent majority share while the government has a 49 percent share, has largely been relying on manual labor.
Bunty Seeruttun, the Director of Agriculture at Horyal Investment Holding Company says 50 percent of the machines and equipment have already been delivered at the factory site.
Seeruttum notes that the machines consist of heavy-duty trucks and tractors that will aid in road construction, irrigation dam excavation, ploughing of fields, sugarcane harvesting, and cutting among others.
The machines already delivered at the factory site according to Seeruttum include 42 trucks out of 87 needed, and 36 heavy-duty tractors out of 47.
Seerutum says the machines being delivered will greatly help reduce the cost of land opening, sugarcane planting, harvesting, and cost of producing sugar. For instance, Seeruttum says a chopper harvester has the capacity to harvest between 60 to 110 tons of cane per hour while using manual labor, one person can only harvest 1 ton between eight to nine hours a day.
He notes that recruitment of those who will operate the machines has already commenced adding that they have given priority to the local populace.
According to Seerutum, the factory is also heavily investing in irrigation to mitigate several risks ranging from climate change, reducing crop cycle and yield, and fire outbreaks that have affected the sugarcane plantation over the years.
The Police annual crime report of 2020 indicated that the factory incurred a loss of 3 billion shillings in 2019 alone due to several fire incidences that razed down sugar plantations in Atiak and Palabek Gem in Lamwo District.
Currently, the UDC is delivering irrigation pipes at the factory site while construction of irrigation dams with a capacity to store two million cubic meters of water is ongoing and will feed a total of 62 center pivots spread on a 4,000-hectare sugarcane plantation.
Benson Ongom, the Director of Corporate Affairs at Atiak Sugar Factory says 70 percent of the labour force working at the factory will be sourced from the region adding the factory will be 85 percent mechanized.
He also notes that the board of Atiak Sugar factory has approved the rolling of the Horyal Foundation, an initiative that will directly support outgrowers from the region unlike in the previous model where the government was in charge of the out-growers.
The initiative soon to be launched this year, will see the Horyal Foundation, give out direct support to farmers in terms of land opening, cane seeds, and market and will later deduct its investment leaving the farmer with profit.
Dr. Patrick Birungi, the Executive Director of Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) says the delivery of machines will continue for the next two months adding that by December, they expect all the machineries to have arrived at the site.
“For them to work efficiently, all the machines have to come, because they are complementary to each other. For us to assess when to start the actual planting, we need more equipment to come, Once the equipment is there, we shall do everything possible to see that sugarcane growing goes on,” says Dr. Burungi.
Atiak sugar factory with a capacity to crush 1,650 tons of sugarcane temporarily shut down operations in May last year owing to a shortage of cane from the two plantations in Amuru and Lamwo Districts.
Once fully mechanized, the management expects to kick off land opening for sugarcane plantations early next year with sugar production expected to resume by late 2024 or early 2025.
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