BUSINESS WRITER
Listed African seed giant, SeedCo, has moved to provide sufficient seed for the 2019/2020 summer cropping season in an effort to ensure food security in the country. The development comes at a time when the country has received significant rainfall patterns in the last few weeks setting the tone for a promising agriculture season.
Marjorie Mutemererwa, the SeedCo Group head of public relations and communications, told Business Times that SeedCo’s corporate social responsibility policy (CSR) aims to bring transformation to lives and promote agriculture, health and wellness, education, sports and culture.
“All our efforts are to ensure that there is food security in the country, hence we continue to stand on our mission statement to seed, feed and lead in Zimbabwe, Africa and beyond.”
She said SeedCo had over the years adopted various strategies in an effort to bridge the gap between those who had more and those who had less, basing CSR activities on merit and need.
SeedCo has been paying school fees for students from primary schools to tertiary institutions. Over the years the company has been helping community schools, among them St Marnocks Primary and Secondary Schools which have benefitted from this programme.
SeedCo also has students that have graduated studying engineering and others that are currently studying medicine. The company also assists schools, institutions and individuals from various sporting disciplines. Some of its partners include Takanyi Garanganga, a Zimbabwean professional tennis player.
Mutemererwa said SeedCo was also in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Rugby Union team nicknamed the Sables, St Georges College rugby team and Churchill High School. The company is also assisting a rising marathon athlete Norest Mashayamombe from a rural area, Murewa.
Seedco also does an intensive school feeding scheme across the country and has health oriented programmes were it assists orphans, widows and hospitals.
Over the years, SeedCo has worked with various institutions such as Harare Children’s Home, Rose of Sharon, St Marnocks Primary and Secondary, Kasipiti Children’s Home, Mother of Peace and Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre, Jairos Jiri Foundation, churches, Harare Hospital, Chitungwiza Hospital, Capota School of the Blind, Banket Hospital, and SOS Orphanage.
