Agriculture Specialist Writer
Government has set its sight on increasing the production of oil seeds to cut on raw material imports and increase local production.
The industry has installed oil crushing capacity of about 449 000 tonnes which, is lying idle due to inadequate raw materials.
The Government is targeting over 97 000 kilo litres of oil against the country's requirement of 180 000.
The Crops, Horticulture, Fisheries and Livestock Summer Plan 2024/2025 revealed that the country was to increase cotton, soya bean and sunflower crop to cut on crude oil imports.
"From this summer plan, 97 692 kilo litres of oil will be produced against a national requirement of 180 000 kilo litres.
"A deficit of 82 308 kilo litres will be met from imports," read the report.
The report shows that the 270 000 hectares are to be planted under cotton and an expected yield of 270 000 tonnes, with sunflower on 160 000 hectares producing 96 000 tonnes and soya bean cultivation on 77 000 hectares yielding 169 400 tonnes.
The report said the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme will plant 180 000 hectares under cotton, 100 000 ha of sunflower and 6 230 ha soya beans.
The National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS) will fund production of soya beans on 10 000 hectares and 2 000 ha under sunflower.
The private sector will plant 40 000 hectares of soya beans.
Self-financed farmers will put 20 770 ha, 58 000 ha and 90 000 ha under soya beans, sunflower and cotton respectively, added the report.
The country mainly imports crude soya bean oil for refinement into cooking oil.
Production of the 2024/25 oil seed targets and subsequent crushing will result in only about US$86 million spent on crude oil imports, a 59 percent decline from the US$212 million of 2023.
Statistics released by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats) show that crude soya bean oil import declined 27 percent from US$289 499 102 in 2022 to US$211 616 943 last year.
Meanwhile, in line with Government's import substitution drive through increased local production, oil seed stakeholders are targeting 120 000 hectares of soya bean for meal self-sufficiency.
This came out earlier this year in the post-harvest oilseed indaba hosted by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) in Harare, where it was revealed that US$103 million was saved in soya bean products import between 2022 and 2023 due to increased local production.
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Oil Expressers Association of Zimbabwe (OEAZ) representative, Mr Roderick Musiyiwa said the most pragmatic step was to increase soya bean production in order for the country to be self-sufficient in meal production.
"The country requires around 250 000 tonnes of oilseeds to be crushed to meet the annual demand of soya meal. This output can be achieved by putting around 120 000 hectares under soya bean at an average yield of two tonnes per hectare," he said.
To increase oil seed production, OEAZ is contracting farmers as well as providing a ready market for self-financing growers.
Food Crop Contractors' Association (FCCA) chairperson, Mr Graeme Murdoch said their members are taking heed of the Government's directive for industry players to fund at least 40 percent of their raw materials from local producers.
"The FCCA has increased soya bean production from 11 609 hectares in the 2020/21 season to 30 692 in the 2023/24 season, a 164 percent increase.
Output surged 78 percent from 34 827 tonnes to 62 000 over the same period," the FCCA chair said.
