Martin Kadzere Senior Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S soya beans production might register a 42 percent drop this year following the decline in financial support to farmers and the late rains, an industry expert has said.

As a result, the decline in output may worsen oil seed shortages on the domestic market. Already, Zimbabwe is importing soya beans from Zambia and Malawi to meet domestic shortfalls.

Local farmers are expected to produce 40 000 tonnes of soya beans, down from 70 000 tonnes produced last year, Professorial Chair in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Zimbabwe Sheunesu Mupepereki said.

“The rains were late and some farmers decided not to plant,” he said. “There was also no money to support procurement of inputs even the support under contract farming schemes was limited. As a result, we are expecting an output of 40 000 tonnes.”

The expected output is just 17 percent of what oil processors require, Zimbabwe Oil Expressers Association secretary Mr Busisa Moyo said yesterday. “The country has capacity to process 240 000 tonnes per annum and the expected harvest will be 17 percent of what we need. This means we will need to continue importing,” he said.

Prof Mupepereki said there was need to come up with a national policy to stem further reduction in production and start achieving yearly increments towards 240 000 tonnes.

“We need to take advantage of the expertise that we have as a country to push production up through the Government and private sector supported initiatives,” said Prof Mupepereki who once chaired the defunct National Soya Beans Promotion Taskforce.

The taskforce, then supported under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s Agriculture Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility, came up with strategies to increase output. In 2006, soya production more than doubled from 40 000 tonnes to 100 000 tonnes.

Mr Moyo said while the issuance of import permits for soya beans has improved, there was need to ensure the system is more efficient. He added that there was need to relook at the contract farming regulations to ensure contractual obligations between financiers and farmers are not breached as way of enhancing production.