Vision Reporter
Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) has offered five acres to Soroti fruit factory for expansion.
The development was announced by Julius Ekomu, the chief executive officer (CEO) Soroti fruit factory during an interview with Etop Radio.
He also revealed that government was ready to commit shs, 56bn as working capital with a big chunk allocated to expansion .
However, Ekomu calls on the leaders to continue sensitizing farmers to take juice so that the factory can buy more oranges and mangoes from them.
Last week, President Yoweri Museveni said that Government will expand the Soroti fruit factory, so it operates at the desired capacity.
“I have got to know that you’re supplying oranges to Kenya, South Sudan and Rwanda, and therefore they supply raw material and get paid at low prices,” Museveni said on March 8th during the national Women’s Day celebrations hosted in Katakwi.
Despite low payment, Museveni said that citrus farming was paying more than cotton that Iteso engaged in the early 1980s.
The factory according to Ekomu processes six metric tonnes of organs every six hours, which translates to 144,000 kilograms a day and 12,960,000 kilograms in a session of three month.
According to management the factory consumes between 10-20% of the fruits produced in Teso leaving others going to waste or being consumed cheaply by traders in Kenya.
Soroti fruit factory the first government processing plant in Teso after the collapse of the Meat Parkers built during Obote I regime,
The factory was launched by President Yoweri Museveni in 2019,to process the oranges and other citrus fruits produced in Teso sub-region.
At a recent meeting farmers’ meeting in Atutur , Kumi district, Ekomu explained that the money that the government allocation for purchase of the fruit was inadequate compared to the high yields
“If each tree produces 50kg of oranges it means in one season we shall have produced 400,000,000 kilograms that would require us to have sh180b a session to satisfy the farmers,” Ekomu explained. Ekomu who was in company the factory board chairman Onapito Ekomoloit was responding to farmers’ queries about wasted fruit.
Recently the Government named Onapito the factory board chairman. He formerly served as board chair at Nile Breweries.
During interaction with stake holders on Teso Subregion, Onapito pledged that within three years, the factory will be able to fulfill its mandate. He also challenged Iteso to become the first consumers of their fruits.
“If each Etesot bought one bottle of Teso juice on Christmas day, our store for mango concentrates would be empty and we would get money for buying more of your oranges,” Onapito said.
It is estimated that Iteso are 3.5 million people, a number Onapito said was enough to provide a market for the juice produced.
