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Business Reporter
BLUE Ribbon Industries is planning to import state-of-the-art equipment for its maize and wheat milling businesses as part of the retooling programme engineered by new owners, Bakhresa Group. The Bakhresa Group, which has operations spread in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa, said plans are underway to continue increasing production capacity at its maize and wheat milling plants.

Chief operating officer Muze Kamal said during a tour of cereals farms last week that capacity utilisation at the company’s maize milling plant was almost 100 percent while wheat milling capacity was 50 percent.

Capacity utilisation is expected to increase once the new equipment arrives. “Blue Ribbon is also modernising its plants. It’s coming up with modern mills so that it can play its role within the value chain,” said Mr Kamal.

“So by next year we will be putting in new equipment within our plants. What we know is that the country requires above two million tonnes of maize and 400 000 tonnes of wheat and this needs to be grown within the country. We do not need to import,” he said.

Mr Kamal, however, did not disclose the value of the equipment that the group will bring into the country. BRI is one of the companies that have signed up to support Government’s Command agriculture, through backward and forward integration in the agricultural value chain.

In that regard, PHI Commodities, an Innscor group company has entered into contract farming agreements with farmers to support and compliment Government’s efforts to ensure production and food security in Zimbabwe.

PHI director Graham Murdoch said agriculture is a business and the backbone of the economy and therefore requires long term investment. “We estimate that this year’s wheat could be as much as 80 000 tonnes. Almost all of that wheat has been grown under contract,” said Mr Murdoch.

He said input support for winter cereals this year is in the order of $18 million and in addition many farmers have been financed by their contracting companies to invest in sophisticated irrigation schemes, modern equipment. These measures are all essential in the battle against climate change and recurring droughts.

Contractors are targeting a minimum of 30 000 hectares of maize this summer much of which will be under full irrigation. The aim is to continue to expand this hectarage.