Sugarcane plantations underway for Tana-Beles sugar factories

Addis Ababa, July 26 (WIC) - Sugarcane plantations are underway on over 50,000 hectares of land for the two Tana-Beles sugar factories, according to Mekonnen Adem, agricultural division officer of the project.    

The two sugar factories to be constructed by the Ethiopian Metal & Engineering Corporation will have a crushing capacity of 10,000 tcd and 25,000 hectares of sugarcane plantation each.

“Of the total land planned to be developed for the two factories, some 612 hectares have so far been covered by sugarcane plantation,” Mekonnen told WIC.

Beginning from November next year, some 15,000 hectares will be covered by sugarcane as land preparation and seed production are being undertaken side by side, he said.

The seeds were drawn from Mekele University, Wonji and Finchaa sugar factories. Tana-Beles project itself has been nurturing seedlings on 1,000 hectares to be utilized to cover 10,000 hectares, he said

According to Mekonnen, the sugarcane plantation activities have so far created permanent job opportunities to more than 400 unemployed youth.

The Tana-Beles sugar factories are among the 9 sugar factories the government envisaged to construct in the country within the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) period.