AGRICULTURAL NEWS - While the seed plant hums along in Chamdor, Krugersdorp, AGT Foods Africa is also attending to the business of making bread more appealing.
Meanwhile, another production line in the facility completes 25,000 tonnes of packaged and bulk popcorn for local “snackers” and international markets.
Brian Lever, managing director of AGT Foods Africa, is quick to point out that the multi-faceted business also includes a grain division which supplies peas, beans, lentils and other legumes to various markets, while the retail packing division is fully employed ensuring that microwave ready popcorn, already packed in patented packets, rolls into stores across the country.
The mining side
A wide variety of seeds - many according to closely-guarded recipes - are supplied to customers as additives to a variety of bread products.
Research projects for the mining industry also form part of the company’s diversified portfolio. Presently, says Lever, AGT Foods is active in the gold, coal, uranium and platinum arenas with producers. Research on pastures and lucerne also form part of the mix, something you may not expect from a company operating squarely within one of Gauteng’s busiest industrial areas.
“The research is focused on land rehabilitation projects from a mining perspective, while the other key activity is on the production of forage pastures for consumption by livestock,” says Lever.
The seed-coating business
“The seed-coating business concentrates on delivering seeds that are coated with the nutrients and fertilizers required to stimulate their growth. For the farmer, this technology enables seeds to be sown without the necessity of returning to the same fields to fertilise, spray with weed killer or any other activities.
“Individual seeds are coated with all the trace elements required to propagate and establish a crop. We work with the Universities of Pretoria and the North West who run trials on our variants,” added Lever.
