Seed Co’s $7 m project to end in March
Seed Co Malawi’s $ 7 million new office complex and factory in Lilongwe will be completed in March and is expected to improve the outlook of Kanengo besides increasing the uptake of seed by the company.
Seed Co managing director Dellings Phiri said in an interview on Friday that the 10sq- metres space of the new factory would take in up to 15 000mt of seed inventory.
‘In total, we will handle more than 14 000mt of seed, but we are likely going to move in excess of 9 000mt to the trade. With improved packaging design next year and more differentiating features in our products, the incidence of counterfeit seed in our seed brand will be hard to occur,” said Phiri.
He said other improvements that will come with the new factory will be in processing equipment, which will all be new and modern.
“The project is big and the final outlook will be magnificent so the general outlook of the surrounding area will definitely be more appealing and glamorous,” said Phiri.
He said Seed Co will increase the number of employees with the possibility of new products that we will be added in their product basket in future.
On what will become of the current premises Phiri said that they will be handed over to their owners as soon as the new premises are completed.
Said Phiri: “With the new factory, quality of seed will improve significantly as the storage conditions will be super.
“It will also be possible for us to register our operations for ISO certification and the neighbourhood community is expected to benefit significantly in various ways with our presence as it is our corporate mandate to live in harmony with all our neighbours.
“ With the completion of this project, we should now be able to handle any size of seed project from the government in the shortest period of time as our capacity and capabilities will be enhanced.”
Seed Co Malawi Ltd is a subsidiary of Seed Co Ltd of Zimbabwe and apart from the two countries, it also operates in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Botswana, Swaziland, South Africa and Nigeria and has agency operatives in six other African countries.
