30 June 2011
London — The Guernsey based trading company Agriterra on Wednesday announced record trading from its maize farming and milling operations in Mozambique.
The company has two agricultural trading and processing operations in Mozambique.
DECA (Agricultural Development and Marketing Ltd), based in Chimoio, capital of the central province of Manica, buys maize from thousands of local farmers. It processes and mills the grain to produce maize meal (corn flour).
Compagri Limitada was established in 2009 in the western city of Tete, and copies the model of DECA by purchasing maize from local growers and milling it into corn flour.
These two subsidiaries have seen maize sales of 13.6 million US dollars for the year ending 31 May 2011, an increase of 55 per cent.
In 2010/11 the two subsidiaries bought 28,822 tonnes of maize. So far this year (2011/12) more than 17,000 tonnes of maize have already been purchased.
Agriterra also owns two ranches in Manica province, with a herd of 1,445 cattle. The first, at Dombe, covers 15,000 hectares. The second, at Mavonde, is a stud farm covering 1,000 hectares.
The company has also commissioned the construction of an abattoir in Chimoio.
According to Agriterra’s Executive Director, Euan Kay, “beef represents a high margin business for Agriterra, and we are committed to driving this division of the Company forward in order to enhance value for shareholders”.
The company was previously called White Nile, which was then a company looking for oil in southern Sudan. In 2009 it changed its name to Agriterra and refocused to African agriculture.
Its Chairman is former England test cricketer Phil Edmonds, and a major influence on the company is its Executive Director, Andrew Groves.
AllAfrica – All the Time
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Mozambique: Agriterra Announce Record Maize Trading