Govt to expand Soroti Fruit Factory, give sh50b for lost cattle in Teso

Nov 23, 2020

“The response of the President is good news to us because it will help us buy more fruits that we have not been able to.”

President Yoweri Museveni has promised to expand the Soroti Fruit Factory and has earmarked sh50b for the first phase of cattle compensation in the Teso sub-region.

Museveni, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential flag-bearer, made the pledge during his first scientific campaign meeting in the Teso subregion on Saturday, November 21.

"The complaint about the factory not consuming all the fruits will be sorted as we shall expand the factory capacity," Museveni said.

Douglas Ndawula, the chief executive officer, said the capacity of the factory is six metric tonnes of oranges every eight hours and two metric tonnes of mangoes per day.

"The response of the President is good news to us because it will help us buy more fruits that we have not been able to," Ndawula said.

He added that due to the bumper harvest of fruits in Teso, they tried to modify the machines to a level of processing 80 metric tonnes in a day, but, still, they are not able to consume all the fruits.

HOPE FOR FARMERS

The chairperson of fruit farmers in Teso, Jorem Opian Obicho, welcomed the President's remarks, saying it is going to return hope to farmers who had started cutting down oranges due to lack of market.

"On behalf of the Teso farmers, we are grateful for his promise because once our fruits are consumed then we are sure of paying fees for our children as well as improving on our livelihoods," Opian said.

He said Teso has a capacity of producing one million metric tonnes annually and yet the factory is not able to take even half of it.

Due to its limited production capacity, Ndawula said they only employ 120 people, but that if the capacity is increased, then they will be in a position to employ 250 workers.

Meeting selected party leaders and flag-bearers from the region at Soroti University, Museveni witnessed the bitterness of the people when he mentioned about the factory that has not satisfied the demand of farmers and yet the President was listing the factory as one of the achievements during his tenure.

His efforts to bring Dr Opolot Okasai, the former director of the National Crops Resources Institute, currently the NRM flag-bearer for Kumi County MP, to give an explanation regarding the factory capacity only attracted boos.

"They are saying that the varieties which you (Okasai) and I (Museveni) promoted are different from the ones which go into the factory. Dr Okasai, who retired and later joined politics, said: "I am talking technically. The issue about the factory is about capacity." He was heckled, prompting the President to intervene. "Please, listen to Okasai, he is a qualified man," the President told the crowd, but the gathering was unrelenting.

"Please, shut up, you people, flag-bearers who are indisciplined! Shut up!" he ordered the crowd before Dr Okasai proceeded. "Your excellency, we did a study and found that Washington naval, Valencia and Hamlin were suitable for the factory. In reality, other varieties have come on board," he said.

Asked about the market for the juice produced at the factory, Okasai said the plant was largely producing for the local market.

"Oranges are sold out to the fresh market first, cheaply to Kenya and little supplied to the factory when there is demand," he added.

The major challenge is how to streamline procurement of the fruits from farmers and increasing the capacity of the factory to take up all that the farmers produce.

"Sometimes, Kenyans come and deceive farmers and buy at sh70,000 per sack, yet the factory pays sh120,000. But the factory is still small. When they have enough concentrates, they cannot buy from farmers immediately," he said.

CATTLE COMPENSATION 

"For the compensation, we are now going to put sh50b for Teso, sh50b for Lango and sh50b for Acholi. We had put sh10b for each region, but people said it was not enough. Let's see what happens," Museveni told the delegates from Soroti, Amuria, Katakwi, Kaberamaido, Kapelebyong and Soroti city.

However, Julius Ocen, the MP for Kapelebyong County, who is leading one million people in court demanding the Government to compensate the Iteso, said the ‘President is politicking.

"What is new in his message is the figures that excite the Iteso, but his message of compensating them is not new since he has promised this in the past elections," Ocen said.

He added that whereas the President was making verbal statements, the Attorney General was talking differently while in court.

It appears like the President is misinformed about the compensation because in the first place, how did he arrive at that amount of money for compensating the Iteso?

"The President is being represented in court by the Attorney General in the Soroti High Court and we expect him to make that pronouncement in court so that it's on-court record," Ocen said.

Wealth creation

Museveni also promised the people of Teso that the Government will expand the budget for wealth creation programmes so that more people from the region can benefit at a time.

For instance, he said, a total of 7,113 people from the region had benefited from the Youth Livelihood Programme, through which young people are given funds to start a business.

"Instead of having 7,000 benefiting after four or five years, we should be talking of around 300,000. Let us put more money in wealth funds so that our people can benefit," he said.

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