URL in bid to boost soya bean output

ZIMBABWE has no reason to import soya bean for making edible oils in the next six years if agro-farming initiatives being implemented by Government and the private sector are fully embraced, an industrialist has said.

Although Government has put in place Command Agriculture, which has boosted grain reserves in the country, United Refineries Limited (URL), together with its strategic partners, is also implementing a $30 million soya bean outgrowers’ alliance scheme to boost the crop’s output.

The initiative is meant to augment processing of cooking oil in the country and reduce shortages, which are compounded by limited availability of foreign currency required to import soya bean.

Soya bean is a key raw material for URL, which produces cooking oil and stock feeds.

URL chief executive officer, Mr Busisa Moyo, told his counterparts from different organisations in the private sector during last week’s CEO Africa Round Table that his company has a ready market for all soya bean that will be grown under the programme.

He said the programme faced teething problems owing to a number of reasons, which the manufacturer hopes to overcome through partnerships.

“This is a six-year journey for us and we target to put about 15 000 ha to give 30 000 tonnes of soya bean in that period. In six years we don’t want to have a single tonne imported from outside the country. We also have our own farms where we need 20 000 ha of large commercial tracts of land and between the two we expect the out-growers programme to give us 50 000 tonnes,” he said.

URL’s crushing capacity for soya bean is 80 000 tonnes per month. Mr Moyo said the Soya Bean Alliance Outgrowers’ programme, which was launched last year, had so far registered 3 300 ha against a target of 7 500ha.

He said the initial response was low because of the 2018 elections, the currency issues, clarity on the producer price and presence of Command Agriculture whose inputs are given freely.

Under the outgrowers programme, people are given loans through selected financial partners.

“We got a bank to support soya growing, so, it’s actually a loan and a lot of people were not keen initially,” said Mr Moyo.

“All the produce will go to URL because we think we can grow these locally and we’ll always provide a ready market for those farmers and can also provide warehousing and collection points.

“Zimbabwe has got good soils and the high density of dams per square kilometre in Africa but a lot of them are not utilised. We think that harnessing our water bodies for import substitution is a good thing to do.”

Mr Moyo said the programme would also boost winter wheat cropping as the two crops complement each other in terms of nutrients.

He said URL will partner National Foods to facilitate all year-round use of farms while financial institutions such as Agribank, CBZ and FBC are already offering loans to farmers.

The partnership ensures farmers without collateral are covered.

Mr Moyo said they were also partnering an information communication technology company. Farmers countrywide are eligible.

— @ncubeleon