During his first campaign meeting in the Teso subregion, last Saturday, Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni promised to expand the Soroti Fruit Factory. "The complaint about the factory not consuming all the fruits will be sorted as we shall expand the factory capacity," Museveni said.
According to Douglas Ndawula, the chief executive officer, the capacity of the factory amounts to 6 tonnes of oranges every eight hours and 2 tonnes of mangoes per day. He said that due to the bumper harvest of fruits in Teso, they tried to modify the machines to a level of processing 80 tonnes in a day, but, still, they are not able to consume all the fruits.
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 told newvision.co.ug.
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.
