By
Daniel Chigundu
 |
| Small scale farmers works in her maize field |
SMALL and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the agricultural sector have been urged to take
advantage of Delta Corporation’s business growth and move in to supply key raw
materials such as maize, an official has said.
Maize is one of
the key ingredients used for the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages and it also
serves as the staple food in the country.
However, maize production
is being threatened by the emergency of tobacco as the cash crop of choice.
Delta, which one
of the top five listed companies in Zimbabwe by market capitalization, uses
maize in the manufacture of a variety of lager and opaque beverages.
Addressing the
media recently on the sidelines of the Chibuku Super Brewery Plant tour in
Chitungwiza, Delta technical services – manufacturing development manager,
Brian Karemba, said the company buys maize from small-holders.
“We do support
small-scale farmers through buying their maize but we only buy from 30 tonnes
upwards and everyone is welcome. However, they would need to put their maize
together and come as a group.
“Our prices are
the same as those offered by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and as a business,
we would hope that the prices would go down a bit but at the moment we are
paying market prices and we actually give them a choice of paying them in cash
or bank transfers,” said Karemba.
He said as the
demand for their recently introduced Chibuku Super continues to grow, they
expect to continue buying more maize from small-holders to match corresponding
investments that will be made in the near future.
Delta recently
acquired a state-of-the-art, fully automated packaging line for the Chibuku
Super, which gobbled in access of US$6.5 million from a Germany.
Karemba added that Delta is failing to stock
product due to high demand for products.
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