Malawi’s Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Minister Dr Allan Chiyembekeza (centre) and Seed Co group CEO Mr Morgan Nzwere (right) being taken on a tour of the new Seed Co Malawi facilities by a company official. – (Picture by Christopher Scott)

Conrad Mwanawashe recently in MALAWI
SEED Co has invested more than $25 million in external markets in the last three years, with close to half the capital spent in Malawi on a seed processing plant with capacity to produce about 60 000 metric tonnes per annum at 160 tonnes a day.

The new plant, commissioned on Tuesday by Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Dr Allan Chiyembekeza in Lilongwe, has capacity to process the country’s national seed requirements in just three months.

Three years back, Seed Co opened a much bigger facility in Zambia and a fortnight ago commissioned a similar but smaller facility in Tanzania. Next up is West Africa, said Seed Co group chief executive officer Mr Morgan Nzwere.

“The plan is to now go to West Africa. At the moment the business is still in its development stage but in another two years or so we want to build a similar facility in Nigeria,” said Mr Nzwere.

He was speaking in an interview after the commissioning of Seed Co Malawi’s new business facilities. After Nigeria, Mr Nzwere said the group will focus on Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, a strategy adopted to consolidate its place as the largest seed company in Africa.

“In all the markets that we operate in, we want to be very visible not operating from rented premises but building our own structures and investing heavily in modern plant and equipment,” said Mr Nzwere.

The new facilities built at a total cost of $10 million including plant and machinery, follows an initial investment of about $5 million towards developing the business, stocks, and training.

With the new investment Malawi is expected to start contributing between $15 million-$20 million to group annual turnover and about $3 million to total profits. This comes after 14 years of investment that saw the company grow from humble beginnings to the largest seed house in Malawi. Seed Co Malawi is currently the third biggest business in the group which Mr Nzwere said is a big and important market.

Minister Chiyembekeza said the investment by Seed Co has changed the vision of Malawi as far as the seed industry is concerned.

“We never had facilities like this before. I know when Seed Co started; it started as a very small company out of Zimbabwe into Malawi with very poor facilities but what I’m seeing today is totally different which has changed the vision of Malawi as far as the seed industry is concerned for which we are very grateful as Government,” said Minister Chiyembekeza.

“This relationship has gone further and I’m told Seed Co is supplying close to 60 percent of the seed into our Farm Input Programme, which is a very big achievement,” he said.

The Malawian government is the group’s biggest client in Malawi accounting for 60 percent of its sales with the difference taken up by non-governmental organisations and farmers.

Soyabean and sunflower have been added to the Malawi government’s crops under the farm input subsidy programme a development which gives the group a strong order book.

“Soyabean and sunflower are two of the many seed crops that the government has earmarked for export drive. This is a welcome development since it will assist in addressing the problem of seed shortage for these two crops,” said Malawi’s Secretary for Agriculture Erica Maganga.

Seed Co is the largest contributor to the farm input scheme.

“We contribute more than any other seed supplier in the seed input subsidy programme; we take a major part in the National Export Strategy through our soyabean seed supply to the farming community. Currently, we are testing new seed genetics in one of the crops that the government (of Malawi) has earmarked to promote, that is, sunflower. With this position, it was not difficult for the group to recommend to Seed Co Malawi board for the extra investment in the Malawi market,” said Mr Nzwere.

Malawi is a big maize market and produced about three million tonnes of maize last year.

“There are businesses with which we share the same history, the same culture, Malawi and us (Zimbabwe) have a long relationship. Their staple diet is maize, which is why we are ramping up this facility,” said Mr Nzwere.

Seed Co Malawi started operating in 2000 and the group has a presence in 15 African countries.