Seed Co eyes growth

THE Seed Co group says it expects its business to continue to grow driven by Africa’s rising population and the continent’s vast tract of land for agriculture.

The seed producer has operations in over 15 countries in different regions in Africa.

According to the latest United Nations estimates, Africa is home to more than 1,4 billion people. The continent’s population is equivalent to 16,72 percent of the total world population.

The world has officially surpassed eight billion inhabitants and as the global population grows, the majority of that growth is projected to come from five countries on the African continent.

Morgan Nzwere, Seed Co chief executive

Morgan Nzwere, Seed Co chief executive told delegates attending the recently held Capital Markets Conference in the United Kingdom that climate change-related factors are contributing to the increasing demand for food across the globe.

The two-day conference began last Thursday at the London Stock Exchange and moved to Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in the British capital the following day. It was organised by Financial Markets Indaba, Bard Santner Markets Inc, and government, with many different sponsors.

“Africa has the largest arable land resource in the world and the majority of the population depend on agriculture. We expect huge demand for food and stock feeds in Africa and globally,” Nzwere said.

He said Seed Co has anchored its strategy on robust and agile agronomy capacity working with government and development partners to capacitate farmers.

Panelists at the recently held Capital Markets Conference in the United Kingdom

Seed Co develops, produces and markets certified crop seeds, mainly hybrid maize seed, but also wheat, soya bean, barley, sorghum and groundnut seeds.

The group is the major seed developer and producer in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Botswana. The company is the fastest-growing seed company in Nigeria and Kenya.

Last year Seed Co ran out of stock in Nigeria due to the huge demand that decimated all carry-over stocks. Seed Co has some seeds that are in the SADC catalogue and this enables it to sell the seeds anywhere in the region.

Experts say Africa’s future billionaires and millionaires will make their money from agriculture. According to the African Development Bank, Africa’s agricultural business will be worth $1 trillion by 2030.

A Botswana and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange dually-listed public company, Seed Co has since the 1940s evolved from being a Zimbabwe-centric company to an entity with a strong presence in the region.

Seed Co became the first company to commercialise single cross-hybrid technology in the world in 1952. The company also became the first organisation to introduce hybrid culture in the smallholder agriculture sector.

In the outlook, the seed company is banking on more US dollar sales in Zimbabwe to get a value for money and increase hard currency earnings.