Agrico, one of South Africa’s oldest and most trusted agricultural companies, having operated in the country for more than 113 years, has joined forces with Multicrop to provide a comprehensive service in Zambia and surrounding countries.

“Zambian agriculture is flourishing and has huge potential”, said Alfred Andrag, COO of Agrico, “as the attractive investment terms offered by the Zambian government, the availability of large tracts of land and the abundance of water is encouraging large scale developments. Crops under irrigation include wheat, maize, soya beans, potatoes, sugar cane, coffee and tobacco.”

He added that the sector is growing from individual commercial farms to large scale operations such as Mansa Sugar, Silverlands Farming, Northern Coffee Corporation and Amatheon Agri, amongst others.  He noted that there are currently around 100 000 hectares under irrigation in Zambia, with potential for much more.

The Agrico/Multicrop joint venture offers farmers in Zambia and the surrounding areas, state of the art irrigation and farming equipment, the latest web control technology, flexible payment terms and a strong local presence and support.   “We are currently installing world class irrigation systems on 1500 hectare of sugar cane and 500 hectare of coffee in northern Zambia”, said Andrag.

“Our Irrigation systems installed in Zambia use the latest technology to ensure energy efficient water application, irrigation efficiency, high uniformities needed for high yields, capability to automate and control irrigation and pump systems through the internet.   With this joint venture, we are looking forward to offering a more comprehensive service”, he said.

Agrico manufactures and retails centre pivots, irrigation equipment, implements and tractors. Multicrop specializes in the design, installation and maintenance of all irrigation equipment on farms throughout Zambia.  Multicrop will stock spare parts for both Agrico and T&L centre pivots and will increase their stockholding to include the full range of equipment for all types of irrigation.   Field crews are well trained and equipped to carry out in-field repairs.

Caption: Agrico and Multicrop are installing new Centre pivots on 1500 ha of Sugar Cane at Mansa Sugar in Northern Zambia.