Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory is a company located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The company is mainly working in Sugar & Molasses business sectors.
The factory is found at Oromiya Regional State near Nazareth City at 110 Kilo Meters from Addis Ababa. Commencing production in 1954 it is the oldest and the pioneer in the history of Ethiopia’s sugar industry. And Shoa Sugar Factory constructed in 1962 is the second oldest and both, being obsolete, have stopped production since July, 2012 and July, 2013 respectively. The two factories constructed by the Holland Company known as H.V.A had a capacity of producing 750,000 quintals of sugar a year. The sugarcane plantation land of these two factories was 7,000 hectares out of which 1,000 had been planted by out growers.
In a bid to replace these two oldest factories with a new and modern one, an expansion project had been carried out both in the cane cultivation field and the factory since 2010. And, the factory plant expansion project has come into its completion in July, 2013. Accordingly, the newly built and modern Wonji/Shoa Sugar Factory has currently a design capacity of crushing 6,250 tons of cane a day and producing over 174,000 tons of sugar per annum which with further expansion will reach up to 12,500 TCD maximizing its production to 220,700 tons of sugar a year. The new ethanol plant planned to be built, will have a capacity of producing 12,800 meter cube. The Factory is currently contributing 20 mega watt electric powers to the national grid in addition to satisfying its own demand which is around 11 mega watt.
Its agricultural expansion project is currently being carried out around the areas known as Wakie Tiyo, Welenchiti and North Dodota areas. The factory, with the help of this agricultural expansion project, will have 16,000 hectares of sugarcane plantation field in total. The total cane cultivation field of the factory has currently reached 12,800 hectares. And, the 7,000 hectares of the factory’s sugarcane field cultivated with the agricultural expansion project is owned by out grower farmers of the surrounding area. There are 32 Sugarcane Out Growers associations which in total have 9,100 member farmers. The Factory, beyond supplying the farmers with selected seeds, and rendering professional as well as technical support to them, has made irrigable land available to all.