MPs raise queries over Soroti fruits factory

Parliament has questioned the performance of Soroti fruits factory, citing failure to buy the farmers’ produce to their expectation, inability to make substantial sales, and lack of value for money.

Mr Mwine Mpaka, the chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry, who led a delegation of MPs on a fact-finding tour on Friday,  said they were told that the plant produce juice from imported concentrates, which is against the concept on which it was constructed.

“We want to find out why there are still a lot of cries from citrus farmers with the plant almost entering its fourth year since it was operationalised,”  Mr Bakaa said.

He said the factory is making small sales of Shs2.9m a day,  which translates to about Shs87m a month.
Mr Mpaka said although they have a request for additional funding for the factory, they will not press the Treasury to release the money until the billions of shillings invested into the plant have been accounted for .

The Jinja North MP,  Mr David Isabirye, said there is no activity at the factory.
“We have not seen any evidence of crushed fruits, this is amid cries that the plant imports concentrates,” he said.
Mr Isabirye called for a cap on the request for more funds until the factory  management puts issues right.

Many farmers in Teso still look at Kenya, Tanzania and sometimes Rwanda as potential market, but always through middlemen. 

Government, through the Uganda Development Corporation (UDC) owns 80 per cent shares, while the 20 per cent are owned by the Teso Tropical Fruits Cooperative Union (TTFCU).

Ms Susan Amero, the Amuru Woman MP, said the plant was constructed to provide market for farmer fruits and employ people from Teso but, they don’t see people from the sub-region steering the factory.

“You have talked about staff, but where are our own? Are they the ones doing casual work? We need to know,” Ms Amero said.

Mr Patrick B Birungi, the executive director for Uganda Development Corporation, which supervises the factory, however, said the plant does not use imported concentrates.

“You can crosscheck with Uganda Revenue Authority to find out whether they have ever cleared any concentrates destined for Soroti fruit factory,” he said.

Mr Birungi said he is ready to invite the committee back to the factory to witness the production season.
He said the current production is from orange concentrates manufactured at the plant.

Mr Birungi said the plant’s capacity to consume fruits has been low because of the old line that could only take about 5 per cent of the total citrus.

“We are now installing new lines for mango and oranges with bigger capacities,”  she said.

Mr Douglas Ndawula, factory’s chief executive officer, appealed to Parliament to pass legislation that will block importation of cheap concentrates by other beverage companies.

He said this will enable the factory become the only supplier of concentrates to other factories.
Mr Ndawula said their products have penetrated the market, adding that their prayer is that Parliament honours request for more funds to have dumping site, and upgrade the water system which hinders performance.

Production

Mr Douglas Ndawula, the chief executive officer of Soroti Fruits Factory, in February said since the plant started commercial production on October 15, 2019, a total of 109 farmer groups and cooperatives have benefited from supplying their products to the factory.

Mr Ndawula says more than 100 registered farmer groups are waiting to supply their products to the factory as they upgrade the plant’s production capacities for both orange and mango fruits. “Previously, we used to process six metric tonnes of fruits per hour but we have locally improved the capacity to between 60 and 62 metric tonnes per day,” he explains. He addes that the mango line which has been processing only two metric tonnes, has also been modified to process five metric tonnes per day. “We are looking at having 80 metric tonne-production each day for both orange and mango lines,” Mr Ndawula says.