By Chris Mfula

LUSAKA, Nov 16 (Reuters) – Zambia’s Zambeef Products Plc plans to invest $50 million to improve its diversified agro-processing operations and possibly increase irrigated maize output, Chief Executive Officer Carl Irwin said on Monday.

The company, Zambia’s largest producer of beef products and which also exports leather to Europe, China, India and Hong Kong, said the planned investment would follow on the $104 million invested between 2008 and part of this year.

Irwin said Zambeef had long term plans to produce about 40,000 tonnes of winter maize from 8,000 tonnes maize harvested in 2009 to help the southern African country of 12 million enhance its food security.

“Depending on demand, we are able to produce 40,000 tonnes of maize by dedicating more of the land currently used for wheat to maize (production),” Irwin told Reuters in an interview.

Irwin said Zambeef, which also has units in Nigeria and Ghana, would spend most of its fresh investment on development of a farm, stock feed plant, palm plantation and to expand its retail outlet network in Zambia.

“We signed an investment promotion and protection agreement with the government on Friday and we are definitely putting in the $50 million into our Zambia operations,” Irwin said.

He said the company last year purchased a 960 hectare farm in southern Zambia, whose land under irrigation farming had more than doubled to 2,200 hectares.

“The total investment to date in this project is $21 million and the potential exists to develop a further 1,500 hectares of irrigation,” Irwin said.

Irwin said Zambeef would start producing stock feed at its fully automated new plant by the end of the year and that it had also invested in a palm oil project in northern Zambia and was currently planting the first 3,000 hectares of palms.

He said Zambia imports 60,000 litres of cooking oil and Zambeef hoped that once production started these imports would be substituted, making the country a net exporter of the product.

The Zambeef board had approved a plan for the upgrading of the Zambeef retail network and new shops would be opened and existing ones upgraded, he said.

Source: Reuters