Zambia imports vegies worth US$25.9m annually

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU ZAMBIA imports vegetables worth US$25.9 million per annum and these are mainly Irish potatoes, signifying a growing demand for these commodities by the local market, Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) has reported.

Demand for imported vegetables by 2016 was worth US$17.7m while that of imported veggie roots and tubers (mainly Irish potatoes) was at US$8.2m, representing US$25.9m.

ZIPAR senior research fellow, Caesar Cheelo, said Zambia’s local market for imported veggies, roots and tubers (or its excess demand) was worth US$25.9m by end of 2016.

“A turnover of US$ 25.9m per year is not small, especially when one thinks about the farming activities and employment that goes into generating that much worth of agricultural produce,” he said.

Mr. Cheelo said demand for imported vegetables increased by 1,565 percent between 1995 and 2016 or by 75 percent per annum on average.

He explained that demand for imported veggie roots and tubers (mainly Irish potatoes) increased to a lesser extent than vegetables.

Mr. Cheelo said demand for imported veggie roots and tubers (mainly Irish potatoes) grew by 1,203 percent between 1995 and 2016 or by 57 percent per annum on average.

“However, all the jobs associated with these imports into Zambia were actually created in the exporter countries like South Africa,

“This is because Zambian suppliers were not able meet the excess demand. The lacking supply-side response was due to various reasons mainly related to the poor industrial organisation of the local veggie, roots and tubers market,” he said.

Mr. Cheelo said there was need for Government to critically think about the "import substitution industrialisation."

He said the way to go in terms of import substitution industrialisation would be to focus on spurring farmers and traders to take advantage of the growing local market.

Mr. Cheelo said this could also be tackled by managing the downside risks of direct trade restrictions (by avoiding things like import bans).