Seed Co makes headway in Comesa catalogue product listings

Seed Co has made progress in listing its products on the Comesa catalogue, which enables free trade of seed, the company’s group’s chief executive officer, Morgan Nzwere has said.

Nzwere told the company’s annual general meeting yesterday that so far 11 maize, four soybean and three groundnut seed varieties had been registered on the catalogue.

He said demand for winter cereals boosted by command agriculture had exhausted stocks.

In Zimbabwe, wheat volumes went up by 358%, although overall margins came down because of sale of standard grade seed, for which the company was only charging a toll processing fee.

“The national hectarage under wheat is estimated at around 60 000 hectares from 14 000 hectares in previous years,” Nzwere said.
He said $24 million had so far been collected from debtors this year.

“All our borrowings, with the exception of the kwacha dominated borrowings in Malawi and Zambia, are between 3,5% and 5,5%.In Malawi, the kwacha borrowings are at 27% and we are in the process of converting these to US dollars, while in Zambia the kwacha borrowings are at between 20% and 24%,” Nzwere said.

He said the consummation of the prime Seed Co-HMC clause joint venture was progressing well with various milestones having been achieved to date.

Nzwere said work on the proposed unbundling of the group with the intention of raising further capital to defend served markets, was ongoing.

In the outlook, Nzwere said with command agriculture programme continuing, there are indications that volumes may increase and payments being done through a combination of Treasury Bills and advance payments. The company said its market share growth in East Africa was largely through the retail market as adoption of its products continues.