Cooking oil firms eye 280 000ha of soybean

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

Zimbabwe’s edible oil firms expect contract  soyabeans farmers to grow  the crop on about 280 000 hectares by 2028 for the sector to be self-sufficient, Business Times can report.

The crop, a critical raw material in the production of cooking oil, has a huge demand, according to the Oil Expressers Association of Zimbabwe president Busisa Moyo.

“To be self-sufficient on soyabean oil, we need 280 000 ha to produce 700 000mt of soya per year at yield of 2.5 metric tonnes per hectare,” Moyo said.

He added: “First is the 100 000ha milestone which we can reach in three years, rainfall permitting. The next milestone is the 280 000ha milestone which we can achieve realistically by 2028.

Moyo said sub-Saharan Africa imports circa 2 500 000mt of soya bean meal for chicken feed, pig feed and cattle feed.

“So, we will be plugging into the regional value chain. Currently, countries like Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique import from as far as Argentina, India and other deep-sea sources,” he said.

The Food Crop Contractors Association of Zimbabwe  of which United Refineries and Pure Oil Industries are members has planted soyabeans approximately  under 21 000 hectares.

United Refiners has secured 40% of the total raw material requirement for  this year through direct contracting. The company and its partners expect contract farmers to grow soyabean on about 10 000 ha this year under its  Soya Bean Outgrowers Alliance (SOBOA) initiative.

Zimbabwe gets most of its soyabean from South Africa with a significant portion of raw materials coming  from Argentina, Mauritius, Brazil, Korea, Zambia, and China.

Moyo said this year’s level of response to the SOBOA initiative by the farming community has been encouraging.

The SOBOA scheme is running and is now  close to the 5000 ha mark, through farmers that are supporting  the soyabean growers’ network.

The scheme put 10 000 ha under soyabean this year and this will be the first time the alliance has been able to put this programme to farmers at this big scale.

Moyo said if the alliance is able to produce over 40 000 tonnes of soyabean the demand for imported crude soya bean oil will shrink and the amount of foreign currency required will decrease.

SOBOA is a United Refineries Limited initiative where the Bulawayo based firm works with multi-sectoral partners to boost soya bean production in Zimbabwe.

The initiative started in 2018 when the United Refineries Limited combined forces with Zimbabwe Agriculture Development Trust, Agribank, CBZ Bank, ZB and FBC Holdings to boost soyabean production.

However, the alliance could not get the desired results.

Zimbabwe harvested close to 72 000 tonnes in the 2020/ 21 soyabean production from a national hectarage of 46 158.

The country still imports huge quantities of soya beans, due to low levels of production.

Zimbabwe requires up to 400 000 tonnes of soyabeans per year for cooking oil production to attain self-sufficiency, which translates to at least 350 000 ha  of land for cultivation.

Stockfeed alone consumes about 240 000 tonnes of soyabean per year.