Boosting soyabean production a noble move

Elita Chikwati Agriculture Focus
Soyabean production has been on the decline over the past years despite the growing demand for the commodity. As a result, Zimbabwe was in a deficit position, prompting the country to depend on imports.

Over the past years, farmers have been reducing soyabean production due to lack of promotion and training services. Soyabean farmers have also experienced difficulties accessing inputs such as seed, fertilisers and chemicals, while others relied on retained seed.

The farmers also faced financial challenges as there was no ready funding for the crop, while banks were offering short-term loans with high interest rates, making it not viable to grow the crop.

This had serious implications on industry capacity utilisation and agro processing firms involved in food and livestock feed processing, especially for pig, poultry and dairy industries, which heavily depend on the crop. This forced the country to import the commodity from other countries to meet the deficit.

The second and final crop assessment for the 2016 /2017 season prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development has also shown that this season soyabean production fell by 25 percent from 47 832 tonnes during the 2015 /2016 season to 35 744 tonnes.

At peak, Zimbabwe used to produce about 170 000 tonnes of the legume, with a national requirement of 200 000 tonnes.

Zimbabwe has the potential of producing more than 400 000 tonnes of the crop if farmers are mobilised and adequate resources made available.

Soyabeans used to be restricted to white former commercial farmers, until the advent of the land reform which saw more players joining the sector.

Government, together with some public and private organisations, has also made strides in promoting production of soyabeans, with some companies contracting farmers.

Government also set up the National Soyabean Promotion Taskforce, headed by Professor Sheunesu Mpepereki. The taskforce will ensure a boost in soyabean production and also equip farmers with the requisite skills.

Because of the agronomic and economic importance of soyabeans, Government has also added soyabean production under both Command Agriculture and Presidential Inputs Scheme to start from the 2017 /2018 season. Soyabeans has been added to crops such as cotton, grains and cereals (maize, sorghum, finger millet, rapoko and pearl millet). The crop will be grown by farmers in all sectors from communal to large scale farmers.

These efforts are being implemented in line with the objectives of the Food Security and Nutrition Cluster of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim-Asset).

Treasury has confirmed its support or soyabean production because of the value of the crop in fixing nitrogen and saving foreign currency. Under the two programmes, farmers will be given soyabean seed and the rhizobium, which enhances the capacity of soyabeans to fix nitrogen.

Boosting soyabean production is a noble move as the crop is a popular substitute for protein, major component in stock feed manufacturing and a perfect rotation crop.

Everything on soya is useful. Some of the products include oil, mince, milk, bread, sausages and this can be done at home without using sophisticated machinery. The crop also has the capacity to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product of the country significantly.

Zimbabwe has been spending a lot of money to import soyabean grain when the crop does not require much money to produce.

By increasing soyabean production, Government will save foreign currency and the money can be channelled to other uses. Adopting soyabeans in the cropping systems will bring multiple benefits.

Production of soyabeans will impact on food security, sustainable agricultural production, job creation and of course the whole indigenisation and empowerment agenda.

Worldwide, farmers were battling to improve the soil and find sufficient nitrogen fertiliser. Soyabean is a good crop because of its agronomic advantage. It is best that Zimbabwe has found soyabean production as an important way of boosting soil fertility.

The crop, as a legume can fix nitrogen biologically using rhizobium.

Soyabeans can replenish nitrogen into the soil. Some of the nitrogen goes to the seed, which is harvested while the other goes to into the leaves, stems and roots and nodules. If these are returned into the soil, the nitrogen they contain can support the growth of the crop which is planted after soyabeans.

Soyabean expert, Professor Mpepereki said nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient to maize production and most communal soils are deficient in nitrogen.

By growing soyabeans, farmers will improve soil fertility, this will boost productivity and improve livelihoods of many. Other than improving soil fertility, soyabean is the one of the major ingredients in stock feeds manufacturing.

Soyabean is a high protein legume and is the most commonly used protein supplement in dairy diets throughout the world.

Soyabean meal is accounting for nearly 65 percent of the world’s protein feed demand. This means the increase in soya production has come at an opportune time when Government has also come up with Command Livestock Programme.

The programme will require soya beans for animal feeds and will also offer a ready market for producers.

Those into livestock production will no longer experience challenges accessing stock feeds. It also means an increase in agro processing, industry resuscitation and employment creation youths, women and those into value addition.

When soyabean is harvested, the crop residues are good for stover for livestock. When oil expressers have expressed oil, they also generate soya cake, which is required by livestock.

Soya by-products include soya chunks, soya milk and edible oil and these will improve nutrition and health of the people. With the advent of HIV/Aids, soyabean can be very useful for nutrition as it boosts the immune system.

Now that there is going to be an increase in soyabean production, it is important that responsible authorities ensure that farmers are assisted with the technical advice and skills to produce the crops.

Harvesting is a major challenge to most smallholder growers, who do not have combine harvesters. Some smallholder farmers used to harvest manually. This is tedious and requires a lot of time and in some aces increases losses. There is need for alternative harvesting equipment or even thrashers that can be animal or tractor driven to improve efficiency.

There is also need for research to improve varieties. Shattering can be a blow soyabean production, so seed houses should come up with more the ideal varieties and avoid those that shatter on ripening.

Marketing is another reason why farmers are discouraged from growing certain crops. It is good that Government has ensured that the Grain Marketing Board would be instrumental in both the distribution of soyabeans and also buying the grain after harvesting.

If farmers are given inputs on time, guided accordingly by experts and get viable prices for the soyabean, production would continue to increase, the manufacturing sector would boost employment creation and the country can export surplus and get the much-needed foreign currency.