Online Reporter
Trust Freddy in Chipinge
LISTED agricultural concern, Ariston Holdings Limited, which mainly produces tea and macadamia nuts, now employs over 1 600 people at peak season, predominantly from Chipinge, driving transformation in Manicaland Province through job creation.
This comes as the firm enhances its social corporate responsibility, with its Shakavanhu Primary School in Ward 8, Chipinge District, Manicaland Province, benefiting over 500 learners, including some from as far as Mozambique.
The company is also driving Education 5.0 by providing knowledge to at least 20 students on internship from various institutions, with some permanent workers having been in the company’s employ for over 35 years.
Speaking during a media tour over the weekend, Engineer Gibbs Manyukwa, head of engineering at Ariston Holdings, said they employ over 1 600 people, mainly from Manicaland, during peak season at Southdown Estate in Chipinge.
“Our labour complement is around 900 for now because we are off-peak, but during the peak season we are having a labour complement of 1 400 to 1 600 employees,” Eng Manyukwa said.
“Our labour constitution is 40 percent females and 40 percent males. We draw all our labour from our neighbourhood, mostly here in Manicaland and for specialised operations we recruit from far and wide but we recruit from across the country. However, most of the employees we take them from here in Chipinge and Chimanimani. We have also students who are here on attachment from all the institutions. “
Eng Manyukwa was optimistic that both tea and macadamia production will remain in safe hands over the next 30 years, given that their training programmes equip students with practical skills that are often not taught at institutions.
Ms Barbra Samutsa, macadamia field manager, with over 14 years of experience at the company, alongside Eng Manyukwa and Woeshik Mangezi, factories manager, are all part of the locally skilled personnel steering the factory, which handles the value addition of over 1 000 tonnes of bulk tea.
Gary Thirkettle, head of agriculture at Ariston Holdings, also praised the local team employed by the company, saying: “One of the best things is that I’m surrounded by a highly experienced team with over 30 years of experience. They know their stuff inside out. Having worked in other African countries, I can confidently say we have an exceptional team. Our local young team, along with the students who intern with us, are doing a fantastic job, particularly in helping implement an ERP system as we strive to digitise all our operations.”
Marvelous Manono, a worker, said he had been serving Ariston for over 30 years now.
“I joined Ariston in 1994 as a tea plucker, and we would manually put tea leaves into sacks until the company introduced a new modern machine, the Ochiai Tea Harvester, in 2008.
“This compact and lightweight device is equipped with a powered scissor-like mechanism for selectively plucking tea leaves, and it’s now making our job easier.”
He also noted that he managed to rise through the ranks until he became a foreman in tea leaf plucking.
“I have worked here without any problems, and due to my loyalty, I was promoted. Through my earnings, I have managed to send my children to school; one is now at polytechnic, and the other is in Form 4. This is our main source of income.”
Another worker, Daniel Chipongo, who joined Ariston in 2017, said he had been living a decent life since he joined.
