BY MANUEL ODENY

The new South Nyanza (Sony) Sugar Company managing director Martine Dima has said in his first 100 days in office has accomplish a lot with more to change.

According to the managing director Martin Dima since he was appointed three months ago, there has been an improvement in the operation of the machine allowing it to crush between 1,700 to 2,200 tonnes of cane per day as compared to the previous 800 tonnes.

The Sh865-million worth semi-autonomous company has not had a substantive managing director for close to eight years, and the appointment of Dima three months ago has breathed life into the factory putting it on the right path of restoring its lost glory.

The frequent breakdown of the plant has however reduced its effectiveness in maximizing its full potential of crashing at least 3,000 tonnes of cane per day.

The old machines have also reduced the sugar production, which under normal circumstances is one tonne of sugar per 10 tonnes of cane. These frequent breakdowns have however led to the plant crushing only 12 tonnes of cane to produce one tonne of sugar.

Dima has overseen the transformation of the mill’s ability to produce 1,500 tonnes of sugar weekly from the previous 700 tonnes of bagged sugar, doubling the company’s final output.  

He said he managed to audit 3,500 cases against the compant to 1,700 and recover four vehicles which were to be auctioned while the price of sugar within this time has dropped from Sh6,000 for 50kg to Sh4,800 which means for a week the company has been losing Sh25m from a 25,000 production.

The resolved payment delays to farmers and prompt payment to 1,500 direct employees and other 3,000 indirectly employed staff has greatly elevated the morale of farmers and the workforce, he said.