Mukushi Seeds rides on uniqueness to impress the market
EVERY business has its uniqueness and that niche approach becomes its point of impact in the market.
For Mukushi Seeds Zimbabwe, which was established in 2014, enhancing productivity and profitability of farmers is the hallmark of a thriving agriculture-driven economy.
The company supplies field crop seed such as sugar bean, maize, popcorn, cow peas, sunflower and small grains like millet and sorghum.
Within its short tenure it has been able to make significant impact that has helped farmers to realise good yields.
Mukushi Seeds Matabeleland sales agronomist/field extension officer, Mr Prince Mazimuka, said the business has been growing under the leadership of Dr John McRoberts who has acquired a lot of great experience in the seed industry for some time.
“Our visions says every farmer must be productive and profitable for healthy and happy families. We are basically looking at ensuring that as a seed house, farmers get a good yield year after year. From the surplus they should also be profitable,” he said.
By looking at the health aspect, Mr Mazimuka said their breeders were producing the varieties that have health benefits to farmers and their livestock. The company is looking at expanding footprint throughout the country so that more farmers benefit from its quality products and services.
“We want people to be familiar with our products, varieties and services that we offer.
What is unique about the services that we offer is that we go the extra mile and offer extension services,” he said.
“We stick to the highest standard of quality, we have quite a vibrant team from the breeding side of the seed to processing and all the way to the marketing.”
Mr Mazimuka said their seed could be easily identified through their unique branding with the seed coated by blue colour, different from other seeds. In terms of performance, he said the company has been on the rise owing to the great team Mukushi, which ensures that services and products are of high quality.
“In every province, farmers are chanting Mushi Seeds because they are guaranteed high quality. Owing to the Presidential Input Scheme and Pfumvudza/Intwasa, which are initiated by the Government, we witnessed exponential growth,” he said.
“Our varieties range from late maturity, which is adaptable mostly in irrigated areas or rain fed areas such as region 1 and 2. We also have got Mukwa, a hybrid type. For medium maturity there is Mutsa, Maka and Mama while for early maturity, we offer Manjanja.”
Mr Mazimuka said their varieties were adaptive in every region in Zimbabwe and they have also introduced a hybrid series of orange maize that was a medium variety with ZF500, ZS244A and ZS500A.
“We have got a unique variety called Mama, which is a good variety that is quality protein maize. It has got more protein diet and it is a multi-purpose hybrid for family consumption or feed for poultry and pigs,” he said.
“Mukushi Seeds will achieve its vision by working diligently to market quality seed of excellent maize, small grain and legume varieties that will meet farmers’ needs for profitable food and feed production in Africa.”
Mr Mazimuka said their teams provide agronomic services to farmers that help them achieve their potential.
“We are committed to research, including plant breeding, agronomic and seed research in order to develop seed of the best varieties for farmers and provide the best information to enable farmers to achieve optimum productivity,” he said.
“We do not use Genetically Modified Organisms and are against their introduction and use in crop farming.”
As part of their achievements Mr Mazimuka said they were working with communities to empower farmers to do seed production and develop varieties such as quality protein maize called “Mama”.-The Chronicle
