Addis Ababa, 8 July 2015 (WIC) – Farmers in Wonji Shoa and its environs said they have been benefiting from the by-products of Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory.
The farmers told WIC that they have raised their milk and meat products using molasses, one of the viscous by-products of Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory, as an ingredient for their cattle feed.
One of the residents of Adama Woreda Adullala Kebele, Hailu Telila, said that previously about six months was needed to feed and take cattle to market, which is reduced to three months time due to the use of molasses.
Hailu began this business only with three cattle three years ago but now managed to present more than three hundred cattle for sale with a total capital of ten million, WIC learnt.
Girma Lema and Tesfaye Kassa, residents of Wonji Gefersa, also witnessed that after they began using molasses as ingredient for their cattle feed, they managed to double their milk product.
They said that before they began using molasses a cow could deliver from 2 to 4 litters of milk per day but currently they it gives from 7 to 10 litters of milk.
According to Coordinator of Animal Development in Adama Woreda Agricultural Office Solomon Bost there about 200 farmers in the area who have been using molasses as an ingredient for their animal feed, which is about 5 per cent of the residents.
There is need to work hard to help the remaining 95 per cent farmers to use molasses as an ingredient for their animal feed, he added.
General Manager of Wonji Shoa Sugar Factory Faro Beketa, on his behalf, said that although more than 645 thousand 572 quintals of molasses are stored in the Factory only 78 thousand 294 quintals of molasses is sold so far.
Previously, one quintal of molasses cost more than 300 EB but currently that price is reduced to 70 EB, the General Manager emphasized, urging the farmers to benefit from it.