Fortunately, the situation began changing a couple of decades ago when the government realized the potential of the sector and began investing in it.

 

Though a lot has to be done in order to harvest the benefits from the sector to the expected standard, the availability of ample labour, water resource and the climate condition favourable for sugar development enabled the nation to successfully cultivate the potential of the sector in the last 20 years.

 

First, it was at Wonji in 1951 some 110 km east of the capital Addis Ababa that modern sugar industry started in Ethiopia The Netherland's H.V.A. Company entered the sector as a foreign share holder.

 

When the factory started production in 1954 its initial production was one thousand four hundred quintals of sugar a year. At the start, the share company owned five thousand hectares of land for its sugarcane cultivation.

 

Then, it was followed by Shewa Sugar Factory in 1962 with 1,700 quintals of sugar production capacity a day. The two factories were known by the name Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory altogether had the capacity of producing 750,000 quintals of sugar per annum till recent time, that is prior to the completion of the new Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory. Then the two factories were closed in 2011 and 2012. Replacing these pioneer factories, the new and modern factory started production in 2013 with higher production capacity.

 

The next factory, Metehara Sugar Factory, was established by the same Netherland's Company assisted by the Ethiopian government in 1965 and it started production in 1969 at a place known as Mertti some 200 km away from Addis Ababa. Currently, the factory covering 10,235 hectares of sugarcane cultivation land has a capacity of producing more than 1.3 million quintals of sugar and over 12.5 million liters ethanol a year on average.

 

Fincha Sugar Factory as a third sugarcane crushing mill came into existence in late 1998 though its establishment process and other activities dated back to 1975.

 

The gap between the establishment and commencement of production of the factory mainly occurred due to the political change the nation had undergone. Its initial sugar production was 500,000 quintals per annum side by side with its ethanol plant sector.

 

In 2006 Tendaho Sugar Development Project was established as a fourth two-phased project in the country. Construction of the first phase of the factory has started production in 2015. The two-phased project, reaching its maximum crushing capacity, eventually enables the factory produce 619,000 tonnes of sugar and 63 million litters of ethanol a year.

 

These days, these former projects and the recent ones have been well developed to giant factories and continued producing a surplus sugar production. The status of sugar production has now reached to the level that it is fully capable of fulfilling the local demand having even some surplus production beginning from the end of this year.

 

In first Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-I), the sector aimed at building ten sugar factories within five years at selected areas in different states of the nation.

 

Lack of domestic exposure to such sophisticated industry construction as well as the burden of building various infrastructures prior to constructing the factories made running the sector more cumbersome and time consuming than any other mega project of the plan. Regardless of these and other challenges, most of the factories have already started the production.

 

Wonji Shewa, Methara, Fincha, Kesem, Tendaho are among the ones that are fully operational at the moment while Omo Kuraz (1 and 2) and Arjo Dedessa will get into full operation this Ethiopian Fiscal year. And on the next budget year, Kuraz-3 will become operational and increase the number of big sugar factories into nine. According to Ethiopian Sugar Corporation, the number of big sugar factories will hit 13 by the end of GTP-II in 2020.

 

It was also noted that the sugar factory is a giant factory having various sub companies in them as well. "Building a single sugar factory is like building a town," Gashaw Aychlum, Corporate Communication CEO of the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation stated in an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald.

 

According to the CEO, Ethiopia has been importing some 200,000 metric tonnes (2 mln quintals) of sugar from abroad for local consumption until recently.

 

He added, "Our production capacity had not been over 4 million quintals (400,000 metric tonnes) before. But now due to the expansion of the formerand the new factories that will get fully operational this year, the nation will have a capacity to produce 7 million quintals (700, 000 metric tonnes) of sugar this year."

 

With this capacity the nation will not have tendency to import sugar any more. Gashaw said, "The nation is planning of exporting sugar to other nations beginning from the coming Ethiopian fiscal year. We could say the nation is in a state of 'sugar development revolution'."

 

He also explained basing from current surveys on the area that the average sugar demand of an individual per day at the moment is 7-10 kg and the total sugar demanded at an average in the nation is 6-6.5 million quintals (600,000-650,000 metric tons). And the total producing capacity of the nation will become 7 million quintals (700,000 metric tons) which is a surplus product for a local consumption.

 

Like any other developing nations, Ethiopia has a problem of unemployment. And sugar development sector is one among the areas that have envisaged to minimizing the number of unemployment. Hence, the sector can be taken as the major sector that has created huge volume of job opportunities to citizens for the last five years. So far, the sector has created direct job opportunities to more than 350,000 citizens.

 

One has to note that the sector involves from highly skilled foreign as well as domestic professionals to daily laborers in tens of thousands. The CEO further told The Ethiopian Herald that "more than 600, 000 citizens will get job opportunity from the sugar industry at the end of GTP-II by the end of 2020."

 

As mentioned above, all new sugar development projects are being carried out at selected remote areas identified as best suitable for the sector while all in all they had been devoid of any infrastructure and social service institution.

 

Accordingly, construction of social infrastructures and community facilities is the other huge task carried out by the Corporation to ensure community benefits. Sugar industry has so far been concentrated in few states. But now the factories are decentralized in different states such as SNNPR, Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Oromia states.

 

The Corporation has been engaged in building dams and constructing large irrigation schemes to realize the goal set in the sector at the various states of the nation. It is the other huge task that the Corporation has been shouldered with.

 

It has been reported from the Corporation that the Sugar Corporation faces certain challenges while executing such huge projects at a time. Skilled man power is one of the bottlenecks as these huge projects require complicated tasks which call for a much synchronized project activities having modern technologies.

 

Therefore, problems reflected in project activities, lack of knowledge in project management and contract administration are the main challenges seen in the sector while turnover of skilled man power in the sector is the other problem commonly observed.

 

Generally, sugar development sector is one among other huge projects which enable the industry to take a leading role in the nation's economy.

 

Ethiopia has huge human as well as natural resources which helped it to broaden this export oriented manufacturing industry sector and its productivity. Moreover, the nation has suitable climate, wide and proved irrigable agricultural land. And now the government is echoing the fact that the nation is moving towards a paradigm "sugar development revolution on saying 'No more Sugar importation'."

Source : allafrica.com