A new wave of agricultural progress in Africa is increasingly targeting efficiency and productivity both in the fields and boardrooms.
This is analysis done by Agricon Equipment commercial director, Neville Sealy.
Agricon Equipment, headquartered in Harare, Zimbabwe, is the sole distributor of CASE IH and Sany agricultural equipment in the southern Africa region.
Sealy said the company was constantly pushing towards offering full-service solutions to farmers.
“Representing several of the top tier brands in the world comes with its pressures,” he said.
“Agricon Equipment is conscious that these are some of the best brands in the world, renowned for their quality, high standards and expectations.
“We are ever mindful of living up to and hopefully exceeding these benchmarks, so we wake up every day with that in mind.”
Sealy added that with a growing global population and the rising cost of food, the pressure was increasing on emerging markets to pull their weight.
“We need to move towards a smarter farming solution, looking after our soils so that they can look after us. These options are all enhanced by the state-of-the-art auto guidance on our tractors.
“The benefits of our factory fitted, and aftermarket, auto guidance options are not only obvious, but tested and measurable, saving the customer 18% on fuel costs alone. If you add this to the variable applications and planting options that we have to offer, the reduction in cost, increase in yield and net profits are immense.”
Added Sealy: “Our combines (harvesters), already wild favourites all over the world, are now available with Harvest Command which allows remote monitoring, diagnosis and easy cloud-based yield and moisture monitoring which can be combined with agronomists’ field maps to better advise the farmer.”
This, he mentions, has wider application in other markets when it comes to access to finance and off-site investments.
“It provides comfort in the boardroom when you can categorically prove what went in and what came from each field or farm.
Agricon’s focus is twofold: firstly, finding the best parts for the best prices, and secondly, offering the farmer solutions to improve on their operations.
“With the recent worldwide issues and shortages, the availability turnaround time from suppliers has been of concern, also red-tape and price increases are affecting all stakeholders.
“Our solution is to further improve on our on-site stockholding as well as find regional suppliers. Moreover, having the right stock in place is the difference between a good and great dealer and we certainly aim to be great.”
