The tour of Nchalo Estate warehouse loaded with sugar ready for dispatch to distributors
* As Minister of Industrialisation, Business, Trade & Tourism George Partridge tours Nchalo Estate to assess sugar availability and challenges faced by Illovo
* Illovo is a big company and it has an impact on the country’s economy, so we came to understand the context in which the company is operating
* Government does not want to formulate policies without a clear understanding of how industries operate on the ground
By Leah Malimbasa, MANA & Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express
During his tour of Illovo Sugar Malawi’s Nchalo Estate yesterday, to assess sugar availability on the market and appreciate its operational challenges, Minister of Industrialisation, Business, Trade & Tourism George Partridge was assured that the company has enough sugar available to cover up to April when the season production shall resume.
Illovo Sugar Malawi Plc Managing Director, Ronald Ngwira described the Minister’s visit as timely, saying it provided an opportunity to explain challenges facing the company.
“We are happy that the Minister visited us and we have discussed with him the issues we face, which include theft and climate change,” said Ngwira, who added that the company was also facing limited access to foreign exchange at a time when it was undertaking critical maintenance works ahead of next production season.
“We are struggling with access to forex exchange. We are in the maintenance season, we are fixing the factory and that needs a lot of forex,” Ngwira said.
Managing Director Ngwira in an interview with the media inside the warehouse yesterday
On sugar availability, Ngwira assured the Minister and public that the company has sufficient stocks to meet demand in the coming months, emphasising that interms of stock, they have enough sugar in Nchalo, Dwangwa, Limbe, Lilongwe and Karonga to cover up to April.
The visit forms part of government’s broader engagement with the private sector aimed at stabilising supply chains, addressing market distortions and safeguarding key commodities critical to the national economy.
The Minister thus said the visit was intended to enable government to make informed policy decisions based on the realities of industry operations, saying: “What necessitated this tour is to confirm the availability of sugar in the country.
“We know Illovo is a big company and it has an impact on the country’s economy, so we came to understand the context in which the company is operating.”
Minister Partridge
Partridge added that the government does not want to formulate policies without a clear understanding of how industries operate on the ground: “We do not want to be making policies in a vacuum — we need to understand how they are operating in reality,” he said.
Partridge said discussions with Illovo management highlighted persistent challenges, including theft and the effects of climate change on production.
“They have lamented that theft is affecting them as well as climate change. We have understood the extent of the issue and how they are sorting it out,” said the Minister.
During the interaction, Illovo management lamented how theft of cane and estate infrastructure is affecting their operations that is contributing to high levels of revenue loss.
Nchalo Estate Manager Ricky Pillay presented a drone captured video of the theft that is so rampant that the vandals are so bold such that they brazenly execute their operations during daylight in fields less accessible by motor vehicle security patrols.
Pillay explaining the challenges being faced.—Pictures courtesy of Illovo
Pillay enlightened Partridge and his entourage from his Minister that some bundles of the cane they found abandoned after the thieves bolted when they discovered a drone was overhead watching them, weighed over 100kgs.
The video captured large droves of thieves with such loads on they heads heading to rendezvous along the Shire River where they are transported as far as across the border to Mozambique and in markets for local consumption suspected to be for distilling the illegal spirit, kachasu.
Management also appraised the Minister that, while they work in close collaboration with public law enforcement to complement their own security from private security companies, Nchalo Police Station is also stretched in as far as resources for mobility and manpower since their mandate is largely on public order and safety.
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Illovo requires some forex to buy spare parts for its robust maintenance of the factory machinery during off-production season, but the need for the scarcity forex is aggravated due to vandalism and theft of the estate’s irrigation equipment.
Illovo has invested a lot of resources in enhancing security robust security features such as razor wire fences around pumping stations, security alarm systems to protect staff from aggressive invasion of vandals, among many other extra systems put in place to combat the rampant theft.
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