ETG: Farmers’ one-stop supplier

By JACK MWEWA –

EXPORT Trading Group (ETG) in pursuit of promoting the Agriculture industry in Zambia, recently incorporated Farmarama, a agricultural inputs outlet in Kapiri Mposhi.
Farmarama, who operated as a separate farming input and chemicals outlet was incorporated into ETG as a way of enhancing service to the farming community.
Rutherford Mutumba who is Kapiri Mposhi Deport manager explained to the media that  ETG took advantage of the increased demand for farming inputs and chemicals in Kapiri Mposhi and surrounding areas.
“Kapiri Mposhi has a growing population of farmers, both small scale and commercial, hence the move to open up another outlet here,” Mr Mutumba said.
The Farmarama shop situated opposite Kapiri Mposhi main bus station is a one-stop shop for farmers, housing different inputs and chemicals at the farmers’ convenience.
Mr Mutumba said  the Kapiri Mposhi outlet has been catering for farmers from as far as Mkushi, Munkonchi , Mpongwe and areas near Kabwe.
With the recently introduced e-voucher system of acquiring farming inputs and chemicals, the Kapiri Mposhi deport has effectively served the farmers around the area.
“We have been attending to farmers who come to redeem their allocations inputs and chemicals as provided on each card,” he said.
Dereck Bafana who is Kapiri Mposhi Branch manager explained that the outlets has recorded increased sales from one truck to 10 trucks a day.
According to Mr Bafana, ETG was the farmer’s most preferred shop because of the variety of chemicals in fungicides, insecticides and herbicides under one roof.
“A farmer would come in this shop and walk out with all the necessary requirements for his or her land and crop,” said Mr Bafana.
For Mr Clever Samenda,  a sales agronomist, it is the expert information they give to farmers which is of importance to guarantee safe farming practices.
“We are not only interested in selling inputs and chemicals, but go a step further in guiding our clients on how to use them to maximize production,” Mr Samenda said.
He singled out information on storage and disposal of the purchased chemicals as one they always emphasized to their clients.
“We know that the chemicals we sale are highly poisonous, so we make sure that we guide the farmers on the safer methods of applying and disposing them,” Mr  Samenda said.
He added that they advice against spraying chemicals during windy, rainy dew, and unfavourable conditions, and also advice on the waiting periods.
An in house agronomist provides customers with professional advice and application guidelines. The company conducts regular fertiliser trials across Zambia.
Founded in Kenya in 1967, ETG has emerged as one of Africa’s largest Agricultural Conglomerates.
ETG’s footprint expands across sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asian countries.
The Group’s supply chain penetrates deep in remote agricultural regions where they procure commodities from smallholder farmers through our strategically located centres.
The commodities are then accumulated at ETG warehouses and transported to processing facilities, prior to reaching our customers.
ETG moves an approximate five million metric tonnes of agricultural commodities around the world and directly employs more than 7000 people globally.
Their vast portfolio of commodities includes: cashews, various types of oilseeds, sugar, coffee, a variety of pulses, wheat, fertilizer, rice, maize and sesame seeds.
The company further specialises in blended fertilisers which incorporate 9 vital nutrients for most soil types.
Unlike other producers, the company adds organic content to its fertilisers to assist in restoring and maintaining micro-organism populations and improving soil structure.
This facilitates more efficient absorption of chemical based nutrients by plants, like their Compound D is 30 per cent organic content. The company also supplies Kynoch, Falcon fertilizers and Zambia fertilizers.