Illovo Sugar Malawi facing serious challenges on theft of sugarcane, irrigation equipment by sorrounding community members

* Unattended to herds of livestock, goats and cattle, are left by community members to roam freely and feed on sprouting cane leaves

* Its security system now enhanced with high-tech drone surveillance system that captures and stores facial features that identifies thieves later

* Illovo’s sugar production is sufficient enough for domestic consumption but it’s the distribution line the company is not in control of that leads to scarcity during off season

* Sugar is being smuggled into neighbouring countries because the product is cheaper in Malawi

Analysis by Duncan Mlanjira

Poverty levels through economic challenges faced by sorrounding community members of Illovo Sugar Malawi’s Nchalo Estate in Chikwawa is contributing to the serious challenges the company is facing on theft of sugarcane and expensive irrigation equipment as well as other irresponsible behaviours of the community members.

When Illovo highlights these challenges, the nation in general tend to doubt if indeed theft of cane and equipment parts can lead to loss of revenue or low production of sugar — thus the company engaged the media for a two-day tour of Nchalo Estate to assess and appreciate the situation on the ground.

True to it, I witnessed several people carrying loads of sugarcane on their heads around 20h00 at Nchalo trading centre on the night prior to the engagement. And I also witnessed unattended to herds of livestock, goats and cattle, that were left by the community members to roam freely and feed on sprouting cane leaves.

Production is in full swing and most of the hectares of cane fields have been harvested and left to regrow or replanted with fresh cane stocks — thus being an attraction by the livestock to feed on the sprouting leaves.

When the owners of the livestock are identified, Illovo — in collaboration with traditional leaders — metes out a fine of K2,000 but being very little, the community members still allow their livestock to feed on the sugar fields opting to pay the meager fine.

Meanwhile, Nchalo Estate, whose Manager is Ricky Pillay, indicated that they now have enhanced the security patrols with high-tech drone surveillance system that captures and stores facial features that identifies thieves later.

The ground security posts and mobile patrols are managed by private security company, GardaWorld, as a business partner and with the support of the drones, it is hoped that it will deter encroachers, some of whom enter the fields through canals using canoes.

Pilly added that their intel discovered that the thieves using canoes then crosses over the Shire River and transport the cane to neighbouring Mozambique and it is suspected that even ground security personnel are part of the syndicate.

These guards facilitate the cutting down of the canes for easy and quick retrieval by the trespassers after leaving their guard posts unmanned.

On his part, Illovo Sugar Malawi’s interim Managing Director, Kondwani Msimuko once more emphasised that every production season, the company always has sufficient stock enough for domestic consumption but it is the distribution line — which Illovo has no control of — that leads to scarcity during off season.

He added that the unregulated distribution line helps in sugar to be smuggled into neighbouring countries of Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzanian because the product is cheaper in Malawi.

He also said due to climate change, they’ve been experiencing prolonged wet weather conditions that is affecting the factory’s season startup while hinting that they are working on ways on how to overcome this weather unpredictability.

Their heavy transportation machinery does operate on wet conditions of the fields as they get stuck and at the same time disturb roots, which are used to be regrown for five to seven years.

The ongoing foreign exchange challenges is also affecting the companies, especially on maintenance since the equipment for the seamless chain production line requires maintainance parts from other countries such as South Africa.

Some unplanned maintenance costs also come along due to theft of parts of irrigation equipment and Msimuko added that local suppliers are also experiencing forex challenges.

In meeting these unplanned for maintenance and replacement of vandalised and stolen equipment, it is leading to rising production costs while the theft of cane threatens to lower revenue if not properly solved.

Pilly added that his management team is in constant collaboration with community leaders to curtail encroachment of the fields, saying it has come to such serious levels such that after reserving a good hectarage to plant maize in order to provide it to the sorrounding communities, the whole field’s crop was stolen at the green maize stage.

And while the sorrounding communities may be deemed to be driven by ill-intentioned approach to Illovo’s operations, the company takes cognizance that economic challenges being experienced in the country has not spared people of Chikwawa.

Once the Shire Valley Transformation Programme (STVP) shall be completed, Illovo shall tap water from the mega irrigation canal system while at the same time to encourage farmers in the villages closer to the canal to practice sugarcane production in order be economically empowered.

Illovo already has an inclusive agriculture partnership with sorrounding farmers through working with smallholders growers such as Kasinthula and Phata cooperatives, whose members invested their portions of fields into one company that grows sugarcane and sold to Illovo.

Illovo in turn empowers these growers with modern methods of sugarcane agriculture helping them meet sustainability standards and access to markets.

The media were taken on a tour at Phata Cooperative, where we were appraised how their economic lives have improved and added their agriculture with fruit orchards, beekeeping, and aquaculture, which has 10 fish ponds.

Phata Cooperative management indicated that the revenue they receive is shared to the shareholders as annual dividends, calculated as according to the pieces of land they invested into the project that was initiated over 12 years ago.

This system with Phata and Kasinthula is expected to be facilitated to the farmers that will benefit from the SVTP’s irrigation canal, who have been trained by STVP on how to manage cooperatives with Illovo being the already established market for sugarcane production.

Through Nchalo Estate, Illovo Malawi also has a community investment programme, under the theme; ‘Creating a Striving Community’ — a corporate social investment through which the company supports education, health, potable water, food security and afforestation.

It has built schools, clinics, boreholes and priotises in local employment, gender equity and safe working conditions thus contributing to long term societal resilience — whose investment is in hundreds of millions of Kwacha.