Sena Farms in Zambia talks about their sustainable agriculture practices and partnership with John Deere Financial. The farm discusses how they're investing in African agriculture long-term while supporting their local community.
The sort of drive was Sena Farms was formed in 2008 and we was a plan to have it as an investment up in Zambia. There was a Zambian partner and an ex Zimbabwean partner that started up the business. We then realized that we needed more finance and capital put in. So it was formed into a company which then got an overseas investor called Ultima Agriculture. And they came into Zambia looking for opportunities to develop food production in Africa. And from the small beginnings of one farm in Zambia we are now on four farms running in Zambia with holistic management. And our team is a very tight team. And that's where we saw, we saw opportunities to produce the food in the central part of Africa which will feed the region. Basically row crop farmers that are diversifying into macadamias. We don't do any livestock up here. We're trying to be as sustainable as possible. So reducing use of chemicals and also different land preparation techniques and planting centre farms targets to be the most cost effective produce our food in Central Africa. We had a strong feeling of a moral responsibility to our staff that we would be able to help them produce food for their family down at village level. So we instituted this foundations for farming plan that gives them the ability to take a small area of land, do it properly on time that will give them enough food to feed their family for a year. The tight economics in agriculture worldwide and in Zambia as well we look at where we can save costs without losing the importance and the value of what we put in, for example is that using precision planters we have reduced our seed costs by 20% in the year, on year and also again with the accurate amount of fertiliser applied we can get the top yields out of those with not necessarily using more fertiliser but using what we are applying efficiently. So that's made the decision for us to move towards the John Deere side. We were looking for a financial partner to help us in the interest. So we looked at who we could partner with and we've partnered with John Deere Financial and they're coming in and they're giving us a preferential finance rate. And it gives us the opportunity to repower and to keep up with technology in our fleet. And we highly recommend using them because it gives you more viability in your business. Looking at agriculture in Africa and looking at agriculture in Zambia we we as Sena Farms we are here for the long term. And that's why we are putting in planting long term crops now in the tree crops and we're looking at other options as well. So to live and be in Africa, you have to have a passion for it. And my family and I and the families that work on the farm, we're all in it because it's what we love to do and it's where we want to be. And agriculture in Africa has a lot of negativity, but it's a very beautiful place to be. And I wouldn't be anywhere else but farming in Africa.
