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Business Reporter
Government has been urged to put in place a regulatory framework that will help protect soyabean farmers in order to boost production.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union second vice president Mr Berean Mukwende said there was need to control prices of soyabean if farmers are to realise profit from the crop.
“Soya inputs are very expensive but the prices that farmers sell their produce for are too low, and this has been putting strain on the farmers. If Government puts price regulations on soyabean, then we can have more farmers producing the crop thus increasing the output,” he said.
The country has been facing serious soyabean shortages as farmers face challenges in their efforts to boost production of the crop to meet national demand.
Last year, the country reported a 200 000-tonne deficit in soya bean after producing only 20 000 tonnes, far less that the national requirement.
Soya bean contributes at least 30 percent of all the cooking oil production while cotton seed contributes 50 percent.
Mr Mukwende said the regulation of soya bean prices would also help protect farmers from unscrupulous contractors who wanted to pay as little as possible for the crop in order to boost their profits.
He said the value of soya bean trebled after processing meaning that the contractors were benefitting more than the farmers.
“Prices should be regulated so that contractors cannot take advantage of the farmers and they get full value for their crop,” he said.
Mr Mukwende said there was also need to regulate the flow of soya bean from outside the country so that local farmers could boost their competitiveness.
“Imports coming from Zambia are much cheaper than our local produce and Government should also regulate the inflows of these imports. We want farmers to be able to get good returns from their produce which can compete fairly with that from the region,” he said.
He said imports were cheaper than locally produced soya bean because other governments could afford to subsidise their farmers which had not been happening in Zimbabwe leading to a downturn in production.
Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti in his last mid-term fiscal policy statement said this season’s soya bean output had been reviewed downwards from 114 800 tonnes to 76 900 tonnes due to low yields that were exacerbated by a poor rainy season.
The figure falls short of the national requirement of about 220 000 tonnes of soya bean per year.
Production of the legume has been on a downward trend from a peak of 170,000 tonnes in 2001 to as little as 37 000 tonnes in 2010. Olivine Industries consumes significant soya bean stocks for the production of cooking oil, soap and other household products.
Local companies have in recent months been crying foul over the shortage of soya bean, which has negatively impacted on local production with the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe predicting that the country would continue to face excessive shortages as most farmers were failing to provide collateral in order to access funds to increase production.
As a result of the shortage, capacity utilisation at the companies that make use of the crop have remained depressed.
Zimbabwe also has a soya bean crushing capacity of 450 000 tonnes per annum but the industry is operating below 10 percent capacity utilisation.
Analysts say there is need to improve smallholder soya producers from the average yields of 0,5 tonnes per hectare to two tonnes per hectare while commercial producers should move from the average of 1,8 tonnes per hectare to three tonnes per hectare.
Online Reporter