Pioneer advocates the use of hybrid seed by local maize farms

DUPONT’S Pioneer unit, the biggest supplier of hybrid maize seed in Africa, said farmers of the grain on the continent could more than double productivity over the next few decades if they switched to hybrid seed.

The continent had about 35 million hectares planted with maize, yielding under 2 tons a hectare, Prabdeep Bajwa, the African regional business director for Pioneer, said last week. Productivity could rise to an average of between 5 tons and 7 tons a hectare if farmers used the right seed, he said, adding that the amount of land under maize was unlikely to increase.

“We see great opportunity to bring that maize seed, tested locally, adopted locally, and just tremendous opportunity to improve productivity.”

past few weeks’ rainfall. We will get guidance about this season’s crop size from the crop estimates committee at the end of this month.”

The key global canola producers are Canada, China, EU, India and Ukraine, with a production share of 24 percent, 19 percent, 33 percent, 10 percent and 2 percent, respectively. “These countries

Africa as a whole produced 77.6 million tons of maize in 2014, data on the Food and Agriculture Organisation website show.

Over the past decade the average yield on South African maize farms, which include the most advanced in Africa, has ranged between 2.53 tons and 4.84 tons a hectare, according to the SA Grain Information Service.

While genetically modified seed is used in South Africa, it is banned by the rest of the continent. Yields in the US, the biggest maize producer, averaged about 7 tons a hectare, while they were about 5.4 tons in western Europe, Bajwa said.

Pioneer bought a controlling stake in South Africa’s closely held Pannar Seed in 2013. – Bloomberg

make up 88 percent of global canola production,” he said.

Sihlobo said South Africa was the leader in canola production in sub-Saharan Africa. “People are opting to eat healthy foods and this is what is driving the canola market with the emergence of the middle class.”

Paul Makube, a senior agricultural economist at First