New cotton seed producers, Quton Malawi, say it targets at improving cotton production in the country and help government save foreign exchange in importing the plant’s seed.
Quton, a subsidiary of Seed Company Limited (Seed Co) is also working with government in the up scaling cotton production initiative.
The company’s General Manager John Lungu said the company came into being after realising there was a gap within the industry in cotton seed.
“We saw the growth in the cotton industry and also because we realised that there is no cotton seed company in the country as Quton we came in to fill the gap,” said Lungu.
He said currently the company is working on a 2,000 hectare piece of land and expects to produce 1,600 tonnes of seed cotton this year.
Lungu further said the coming in of Quton will see government saving a lot in terms of foreign exchange.
“For the past years government was importing cotton seed from Zimbabwe and the volumes were big. But now we have partnered with them and they are supporting us as a maiden cotton seed company in order to grow the cotton industry,” he said.
Lungu said the company is targeting to increase its production next year to 4,000 metric tonnes.
Seed Co Sales and Distribution Manager Gregory Madeya said Quton is also supplying cotton to farmers on the government farm in put subsidy programme.
He said the seed is of high yielding as it is of high quality and will see farmers benefiting more.
“Our seed is of very high quality and it has not disappointed farmers for the past two years. We want the best for the farmer so that the country economic status improves,” said Madeya.
Madeya further said the cotton seed varieties available are SZ 9314 and Makoka 2000.
He said farmers can access the seed varieties from Cotton great lakes or Seed Co offices but plans are currently underway to expand distribution.
Quton has its headquarters in Zimbabwe and also has offices in Tanzania apart from Malawi.
