Atiak stops sugar production

Atiak Sugar Works Ltd in Amuru District has suspended sugar production due to reduction in the supply of sugarcane to the factory, this publication has learnt.

The company said the suspension follows months of grappling with inadequate sugarcane supply resulting from fires that have in the previous months destroyed its sugarcane plantation.

“The factory is closed and the biggest problem we have is there is no cane. If you don’t have the canes, what do you produce, what do you do?” Ms Amina Hersi Moghe, the chief executive officer of Horyal Investments Holding Company Ltd, which manages the factory, told the media on Monday.

She added: “The canes were available, almost like 300,000 tonnes but you know all the canes got burnt by December [2021]. We grew the canes, all the canes got burnt during the dry season.”

Ms Moghe, however, said the factory will resume operations when the sugarcanes at Ayuu Alali plantation in Palabek Kal Sub-county, Lamwo District mature between July and August.

Sabotage

A number of sugarcane plantations in both Amuru and Lamwo districts have been destroyed by fires suspected to have been deliberately set.

According to the outgrowers and the factory’s management, these mysterious fires began in 2017 and the most affected plantations were of sugarcane that was nearing or about to be harvested, those owned by outgrowers and those not insured against fire, damages, or any other risks.

The fires were blamed on disagreements between the outgrowers and the management of the factory.

The outgrowers accuse the company of not paying them for the sugarcane supplied in the last few months.

Ms Joyce Laker, the chairperson of Atiak Outgrowers Cooperative Society, said they had reported their grievances to government but it did not intervene.

At a public gathering at the factory recently, Ms Laker claimed some members of the cooperative had threatened to continue burning down the sugar plantations until their grievances are settled.

“I will say it without shame, there are issues which the government has to come in and settle out because at one point in a meeting some people said if these issues are not solved the sugarcane will continue getting burnt down,” she said.

The long standing dispute between the sugarcane outgrowers and the management of the sugar factory also delayed the commencement of sugar production, when the factory was constructed. 

The scheme was started in 2013 but production of sugar  began in 2020.

In an interview with the Monitor recently, Ms Grace Kwiyucwiny, the State minister for Northern Uganda, said she would meet the leadership of the factory and the cooperative members to discuss with them how to solve the problem and bring an end to the fires.

“We should protect all the little developments that are coming up in our region because all developments are supported by communities. I want to dedicate my time to come and meet with the leaders of the community because of the sugar that is continuously burning down,” she said.

About the factory

Atiak Sugar Works Ltd located at Gem Village in Pachilo Parish in Atiak Sub-county in Amuru District is jointly owned by the government and Horyal Investment Holdings Company Ltd.

The Atiak sugar project was started in 2013.

On October 22, 2020, President Museveni commissioned the factory and soon after, the company started producing sugar.

The scheme was expected to provide 3,500 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs. It sits on 15,000 acres of land.

Issue

Fire incidents

• In 2016, a fire gutted 150 acres of sugarcane plantation at the factory, causing the company to lose an estimated Shs150 million.

• In December 2018, a mysterious fire destroyed an estimated 250 acres of sugarcane at the facility.

• An estimated 600 acres of sugarcane at the plantation was destroyed in a blaze in February 2019.

• In January 2021, a fire, which lasted for nearly a week, reportedly destroyed nearly 60 percent of the plantation. More than 600 acres of sugarcane estimated at Shs3 billion were reportedly destroyed in the fire.

The fire was the worst to have ever hit the plantation, according to the police, who attributed the rapid spread of the fire to narrow paths in the plantation which made it had for their trucks to move.

They recommended that the management of the company create wider paths of between 10 and 12 metres to make work easier for the fire fighters.

• In January, it was reported that a fire had destroyed an estimated 3,500 acres of the sugarcane plantation.

However, police later said only 250 acres were burnt down.

Mr David Ongom Mudong, the Aswa River Region Police spokesperson, said the fire also destroyed 14 huts belonging to a Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) detach that was guarding the factory.

Mr Mudong added that investigations were underway to establish the cause of the fire.

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