Peacock Seeds donates to medium maturing seeds to Catholic Bishops
Peacock Seeds – Malawi’s leading seed producer and marketer – on Tuesday donated K9.6 million worth of medium maturing seeds to the Catholic Bishops through the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM) Caritas Malawi.
The donation is in response to the appeal the Catholic Bishops in Malawi – under the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) – made to individuals and private entities to join hands with them in assisting survivors of the cyclones in the country.
The bishops made requests for financial and material resources, which they said are critical in helping the survivors to rebuild their livelihoods.
Speaking during the handover of the seeds at the company’s headquarters in Salima, Peacock Seeds Production and Factory Manager, Matthews Sikwese, said the improved seed varieties will enable the affected farming households to recover from the shocks.
Sikwese added that the donation is also a way of creating awareness among smallholder farmers about the need to adopt hybrid seeds in this era of changing climate.
“In total, we have donated 4.8 tonnes of Peacock MH30 and Peacock 10 varieties. These are medium maturing varieties and are suitable for winter cropping and irrigation farming. This means that when they plant these varieties, the targeted households will be able to reap something for their food and nutrition in their households,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Catholic Bishops in Malawi, ECM General Secretary the Very Reverend Father Dr. Henry Saindi described the donation as a charity work worth commending.
Saindi said what Peacock Seeds has done is unique, stressing that maize seeds are crucial in rebuilding the livelihoods of survivors of the natural disasters.
“We wish to continue appealing to like-minded individuals and organizations to come forward to support the survivors of the cyclones so that we can lessen the burden. We would want other organizations and companies to emulate the example Peacock Seeds has set,” he said.
In her remarks, CADECOM Caritas Malawi National Coordinator, Chimwemwe Sakunda-Ndhlovu, said 4, 800 farming households have been earmarked to benefit from the donation.
Sakunda-Ndhlovu added that each of the four dioceses of Chikwawa, Zomba, Mangochi and Blantyre Archdiocese have been allocated 1, 200 beneficiaries.
“We will use registers of the survivors on the ground to identify the beneficiaries,” she said.
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