CFS Agro launches growers’ scheme
By Emmerson Njanjamangezi
SESAME seed contract grower’s firm, CFS Agro, yesterday launched the 2020/21 out-growers’ programme, to provide an alternative cash crop to cotton in the country’s arid and semi-arid regions.
The seed’s main product is cooking oil while its by-products can be used to make livestock feeds. The scheme’s distribution of inputs for the 2020/21 season began last week to farmers in Lusulu, Matabeleland North. The scheme is set to be an annual programme.
Speaking at the launch in Harare yesterday, CFS Agro chief executive Benjamin Chimutengo said 30 000 smallholder farmers had already registered for the scheme.
“The appetite to grow sesame seed has grown over the last few years. We have had up to 30 000 farmers signed up in four weeks. We are targeting 7.5 metric tonnes of sesame seed for 2021,” he said.