Sugar Mills in Southern Ethiopia Fail to Achieve Target

Five sugar mills in southern Ethiopia failed to achieve their target despite a massive investment. In Southern Ethiopia, there are five sugar factories under the Omo Kuraz Sugar Development Project. About 65 billion Birr ($1.1 billion) were invested in this project. But these factories are not working at their full capacity yet, according to officials.

These five sugar mills can crush 60,000 tons of sugarcane per day if they work at full potential. To do that, they need a lot of land, over 100,000 hectares, where they grow sugarcane. Moreover, each factory can crush 12,000 tons of sugarcane every day and can make 250,000 tons of sugar and 28 million liters of ethanol each year. These factories can produce 45 megawatts of electricity, with 29 megawatts being sent to the power grid of Ethiopia.

However, project managers say that these factories are not achieving their goals. While OMO Kuraz IV and V are still under construction, the three operational factories have consistently failed to reach their crushing and production targets.

The Kuraz Sugar Development Project in Ethiopia has caused a lot of controversy as it is affecting the environment and lives of people in Ethiopia. Even though the plan was to make the sugar industry bigger, the project is having a tough time because of various challenges.

One of the challenges is the location of the project because of the lack of infrastructure there. Lack of funds is another issue. Fluctuation in exchange rates and inflation disrupted planned activities. Additionally, at the start of the project, they had to spend a lot of money, which made things harder. Furthermore, key planners and contractors did not have much experience which caused more problems to the project.

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