Living the Pannar Experience
Pannar Seed is a proudly South African company that has evolved into a well- respected international agricultural concern. Pannar Seed was founded in 1958 in Greytown, a prosperous agricultural community in KwaZulu-Natal, where its head office remains to this day. This privately-owned, independent group of companies in the seed industry is a regional market leader, being the largest seed group in Africa, as well as a global player. Pannar owns seed companies in nine African countries, Argentina, Europe and the United States of America, and markets seed across the globe.
In the early 1960s the company began its hybrid maize breeding programme, developing its own improved cultivars to meet the demands of South African farmers. A few years later Pannar Seed became the first private seed company in South Africa to register a maize hybrid for the local market.Over the years many more PAN hybrids followed with demand exceeding all expectations and Pannar grew rapidly to its current position as a regional market leader and global player.
Markets
Since Pannar’s early days when it only marketed maize seed, the company has come a long way.Today, in addition to its maize hybrids, Pannar markets a range of seeds including sunflower, soybeans, grain sorghum, forage sorghum, dry beans, wheat and a comprehensive range of forage crop seeds. Pannar encourages farmers to try Living the Pannar Experience which encompasses excellent products and superior customer service.
Other Pannar Group Companies
Apart from Pannar Seed (Pty) Ltd, headquartered in Greytown and focusing on the crop seed market, the Pannar Group owns four additional companies in SouthAfrica. Pannar’s sister company Starke Ayres (
www.starkeayres.co.za) specialises in vegetable and flower seeds. Kombat (
www.kombat.co.za) produces and markets agrochemicals for local and foreign agricultural markets. Mascor (
www.mascor.co.za) is a group of franchised motor and agricultural equipment dealerships, and has been in operation for over 30 years. Pidelta (
www.pidelta.co.za) is a large farming operation with its primary focus being the production of hybrid seed of the highest quality and standard for Pannar Seed (Pty) Ltd.
Sowing the Seeds of Success
Pannar is renowned as a company that, over the decades, has exceeded the boundaries of performance. A commitment to research throughout the years has enabled Pannar to stay at the forefront in the development of improved products and technologies. In the field of biotechnology, new techniques such as gene mapping, marker assisted breeding and the incorporation of trait specific genes into plants are continually being evaluated and incorporated in order to enhance conventional plant breeding efforts. Research and development is undertaken by highly qualified plant breeders and agricultural scientists.
In southern Africa, Pannar has five modern, fully-equipped research stations, situated on some 400 ha of land, as well as two winter locations. With another four research stations spread throughout the corn belt of the USA and one in Argentina, Pannar’s international research programme is well-established and growing. Sophisticated laboratory facilities, including pathology and biotechnology, are part of the research resources.
The success of Pannar’s research effort is reflected in the ongoing release of new and highly competitive crop varieties. Extensive evaluation of new cultivars is a pre- requisite for commercialisation and is undertaken by the staff at the various company locations, as well as by a multitude of co-operators in the specific target markets.