FSG producing 50% of national requirement

FERTILISER Seed Grain (FSG) a farming inputs manufacturer says it produces 50 percent of the country’s national requirements with government being their biggest customer.

FGS this week said it had fulfilled its contractual obligations with government and had supplied inputs to about two million households under the State sponsored schemes.

Steve Morland, FSG managing director on Tuesday said the company was currently enjoying about half of the total market share through its Supper Fert band and was looking forward to working with farmers to ensure that the next season will be a success again.

“We are on course to meet our set target of at least 200 000 tonnes and deliveries has since started. We have a lot of raw materials on the ground and they keep on coming. There are about 31 000 tonnes of raw materials at present,” he said.

FSG, has operations in Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. The company, whose integrated factory is situated in Bindura, is the largest fertiliser manufacturer in Zimbabwe.

FSG operates on two shifts and produces about 900 tonnes per day and employs 500 employees. Since it started operations, the company has so far invested US$10 million locally.

Morland said contrary to what was said on Monday during the Public Accounts Parliamentary Portfolio Committee in parliament, FGS had not been paid US$400 million.

“We source our own foreign currency to import raw materials, we need received any US dollars contrary to what was said in Parliament on Monday,” he said.

“We made our own arrangement to raise foreign currency through 180 day letters of credit. It is important to note that our arrangement with the Government has helped millions of vulnerable families and we continue to support…“It is very possible that we received a total of $400 million RTGS payments over the past few years we have been doing these programmes . . . but it is important to understand that this was RTGS and Treasury Bills,” said Morland.

He said FSG was operating within the confines of Zimbabwean laws,

“All our transactions with government are above board,” he said.

FSG also supply raw materials to local companies and then buy back finished products, mainly compound D and granular single super phosphate.

Established in 2010 as a family business and small-scale importer of finished fertilizers, FSG has blossomed in its nine-year lifetime. Today FSG stands as a leading manufacturer of fertiliser in Zimbabwe, committed to supplying farmers large and small with high-quality products.

FSG’s success is, in part, thanks to the intervention of the Zimbabwean government who have shown strong commitment to making the country self-sustainable in food production.

FSG is producer of the Meridian Group’s flagship fertiliser brand Superfert Fertilizer, which is produced and sold across the region through plants in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.