In a significant development in Zimbabwe’s food processing sector, Champion Food Milling Company has emerged as a new black-owned milling company, situated in Tyward, on the outskirts of Harare. The brainchild of entrepreneurs Douglous Kwande and Patrick Mnangagwa, this state-of-the-art facility produces non-GMO mealie meal, flour, and animal feed, and is poised to break the longstanding white and Indian food processing monopoly in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.

With a monthly capacity of 15,000 tons of grain, Champion Foods has established itself as one of the largest milling plants in the country and one of the biggest black owned milling plants in Southern Africa. The company sources its maize and wheat grain from local farmers and the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), leveraging Zimbabwe’s record-breaking wheat production that has developed due to irrigation-based winter farming.

However, when it comes to soy, most of it is still being imported as Champion Foods works on creating strategic partnership with farmers to expand irrigation-based farming for maize and soy, to ensure food self-sufficiency all season round, in this era of climate change.

The milling process at Champion Foods is a testament to innovation and efficiency. Equipped with over $20 million in Chinese equipment, the milling process begins with trucks entering into the factory premises through a weigh bridge, to determine the weight of the grain. From the weigh bridge, the trucks then make their way to the off-load bay. The maize is tipped over and it falls through grates under the off-load bay, where it is taken by conveyor belts into the preliminary screening and cleaning section, that removes maize leaves, stalks, plastics, stones, and other foreign objects.

The waste organic material removed from the maize is separated from stones, metal and plastics and is then milled to make nonGMO animal feed for pigs and free range chickens.

From there, the clean maize is then taken by conveyor belts and stored in the 15000 ton silos before it makes its way into the factory.

The moment the maize is needed for processing, it is taken by conveyors from the silos into the factory, where it goes through a secondary cleaning process where there are destoners and magnets to remove any remaining stones, nails, and other foreign objects that could have gone into the maize from outside or in the factory, before it can be put into the milling machines.

From this secondary cleaning phase, the maize is put into storage containers where is it then taken through the mill. It is sieved, wet by water, and then taken down to the roller millers for milling downstairs. From the roller mills, it is then sucked up by huge pipes into the packaging section where it is packed into 5, 10, 25 and 50kg bags for delivery to the market.

Currently, the product is available at a number of retail outlets. The brands produced by Champion milling include Champion Roller Meal and Super Maize Meal and are available at numerous retail outlets across the country.

This development is a significant milestone in Zimbabwe’s journey towards food security, self-sufficiency and ending the long standing white and Indians food oligopoly in the market.

By promoting local farmers, irrigation-based farming, and state-of-the-art milling technology, Champion Food Milling Company is poised to revolutionize Zimbabwe’s milling industry and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s economic growth.