Maravi

Pannar Seed begins exports to Mexico

Pannar Seed begins exports to Mexico
By Joan Chirwa
Friday October 19, 2007 [04:00]

PANNAR Seed Zambia Limited has successfully penetrated the Mexican market for maize seed exports, with an initial 30 metric tonnes of the commodity earmarked this month. And agriculture and co-operatives minister Ben Kapita said the seed industry in Zambia had responded positively to the policy of liberalisation as pronounced in the National Agriculture Policy.

This is the first time that Zambia is exporting maize seed to Mexico, after the country's already established market within the continent.

In an interview after the opening of a Pannar Seed processing plant in Lusaka on Wednesday, managing director William Rutherford-Smith said the company had achieved one of its targets for this year by exporting 30 tonnes of locally produced maize seed to Mexico for the first time in Zambia's history.

"This maize seed we are talking about was grown in Mkushi and it is very good news for Zambia because it is the first time we are exporting to countries like Mexico," Smith said. "We have been exporting to a number of countries in the region and all this is because of the growth of the seed industry in the country."

Smith further said the opening of a Pannar Seed processing plant in Lusaka was as a result of the government's good investment policy on agriculture.

"Our intention is to continue to invest in and expand our research and seed production capabilities in Zambia as needed, thereby contributing on an ongoing basis to food security, economic growth, training and employment in this country," Smith said.

"Through its interaction with Pannar Group companies in other countries in Africa, Europe, the US and South America, Pannar Seed Zambia is well positioned to access and incorporate excellent high-yielding and adapted genetics and the latest in cutting-edge technology into the varieties that we breed for and offer to both small-scale and commercial farmers in Zambia."

Pannar Seed also has its presence in Kenya, South Africa, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, with about 30 years of testing and product selling on the Zambian market.

And Kapita said the policy framework on the seed industry had provided a fertile ground for private seed companies to transact.

"The subsection on National Research and Seeds Policy of the National Agriculture Policy advocates for the separation of responsibilities between private and public sectors," said Kapita.

Labels: EXPORTS, MAIZE, PANNAR SEED ZAMBIA LTD

posted by MrK @ 9:12 AM