Namakia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Namakia
Namakia (Madagascar)
Namakia
Namakia
Coordinates 15 ° 55 ′  S , 45 ° 50 ′  E Coordinates: 15 ° 55 ′  S , 45 ° 50 ′  E
Basic data
Country Madagascar

province

Mahajanga
ISO 3166-2 MG-M
Decauville locomotive No. 1864/1933 in front of the Namakia sugar factory
Decauville locomotive No. 1864/1933 in front of the Namakia sugar factory

Namakia is a village in Madagascar . It is located in the northwest of the island in the province of Mahajanga and the Boeny region . At the height of sugar production, around 3,200 hectares of land were planted with sugar cane.

Sugar factory

The sugar factory in Namakia was founded in 1929 by the Sucrerie Marseillaise de Madagascar (SMDM) in a joint venture with the Société des Raffineries de Saint-Louis . The cyclone and floods of February 19, 1933 affected parts of the sugar plantations and workers' huts. The factory was flooded, leaving its machines five feet under water. As a result, around 200 hectares of new land were cleared and planted with sugar cane , which more than tripled sugar production from 200 tons in 1933 to 693 tons in 1934. In 1937, 2967 tons of sugar were produced and in 1966 25,614 tons of sugar were produced.

The sugar factory was taken over in 1972 by the Sociètè de sucreries des Mahavavy (SOSUMAV). At that time, 2,800 hectares of the agricultural land were planted with sugar cane and 4000 hectares with rice and other crops. The sugar factory was nationalized in 1977 as part of SIRAMA. In 2005 the plant was closed, partially privatized and reopened in 2007 as Ouest Sucre Namakia in a joint venture with the Chinese-owned Sucrerie Coplant de Madagascar (SUCOMA). In 2009 the factory had an annual capacity of 16,000 tons of sugar, mainly for export, and 11 million liters of alcohol. The company, known colloquially as tanàm-bazaha , employed around 700 permanent employees and 1,400 factory workers as well as seasonal cane cutters who produced 24,000 tons of raw sugar. In Namakia, 300 employees and around 1,000 seasonal workers produced only 400 tons of sugar and around 20 million liters of raw alcohol per year in 2019, which is sold in Mahajanga to distilleries and alcohol refiners who refine it into rum.

Narrow gauge railway

The sugar, packed in sacks, used to be transported to the company quay on the river by a steam-powered narrow-gauge railway that was more than 10 km long . From there it was shipped by river barge to the port of Majunga and exported there. Today, Chinese trucks are used for transport to the port.

port

The private port that used to be near the factory was gradually relocated to the delta outlet to the north-northwest of the property as the arm of the Mahavavy River known as the Namakia arm was drained for hydro-agricultural reasons and the rise in tides was insufficient in this arm.

Around 1972 the port had a traffic volume of around 30,000 tons of sugar per year. It had a supply store, an oil depot, a quay and a small jetty for passenger shipping. It was connected to the main warehouse of the plant by a narrow-gauge railway, on which 100-ton convoys were moved by a locomotive, and was also served by a road.

Around 1972 the sugar factory had its own fleet, which included 2 cargo ships / tugs with a capacity of almost 100 tons, 5 regular 100-ton barges, an oil barge and another tugboat. This fleet enabled connections with Majunga, where the company had another warehouse.

The sugar factory still operates two motor ships and four barges there.

Web links

Commons : Namakia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sucreries Marseillaise de Madagascar, creation de la Cie agricole et industrial de Madagascar et des Raffineries de sucre de Saint-Louis. (PDF; 201 kB) Retrieved June 18, 2020 (French)
  2. ↑ Marie-Christine Touchelay: La Guadeloupe, une île entreprise, des années 1930 aux années 1960: les entrepreneurs, le territoire, l'État. S178. Retrieved June 18, 2020 (PDF; French)
  3. ↑ a b c Rene Douessin: Le Sucre a Madagascar. Etude Geographique. 1972 (with a route map of the narrow-gauge railway on p. 21). Retrieved June 18, 2020 (PDF; 6.8 MB; French)
  4. ↑ Olivier Lambert: Histoire d'une aventure Entrepreneurs et activités portuaires, stratégies économiques et mentalités coloniales (1840-1976). Noulet Christèle, 2002. pp. 663-665. Retrieved June 18, 2020 (French)
  5. ↑ Thomas Kautzor: Industrial Heritage in Madagascar, 2012 Part 1. (English)
  6. ↑ Sucoma - Namakia Sugar Refining Mill. Accessed June 18, 2020. (English)
  7. ^ China National Complete Plant Import & Export Corporation. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  8. ^ Namakia Sugar Complex in Madagascar Enters into Production. June 8, 2010. Accessed June 18, 2020. (English)
  9. ^ ↑ État déplorable de la Sucrerie de Namakia. December 13, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2020. (French)
  10. ↑ a b Steam locomotive in Madagascar. In: Madagascar travel magazine. May 14, 2020. Accessed June 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Decauville in Namakia Madagascar. May 14, 2020. Accessed June 18, 2020.