Pineapple growers want value addition firms
By MAILESI BANDA PINEAPPLE farmers in Mwinilunga have appealed to the government to attract juice manufacturing industries to North Western Province to attract farmers grow the crop.
Mr Maulo Mulwanshi, a pineapple farmer, said farmers in the area were ready to increase production if a market was created.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Nation, Mr Mulwanshi said most farmers had shunned the growing of pineapples due to the non-availability of a ready market.
"Mwinilunga is known for pineapples but this status could change because many growers are now shunning growing the fruit due to lack of market,” he said.
Mr.Mulwanshi said most farmers had abandoned growing pineapples in preference to maize which had a ready market.
He explained that growing pineapples would provide diversification in the agriculture sector especially if the market is available.
Mr Mulwanshi noted that having a pineapple juice manufacturing plant would provide a ready market for the produce.
"The Ministry of Agriculture has always emphasised the need to diversify from maize to other cash crops but this is proving to be a challenge because some crops do not have a ready market.”
He was however elated that the President Lungu in his address to Parliament mentioned that pineapple production would begin in the province.
Mr.Mulwanshi said the speech gave hope to pineapple farmers who had struggled with their produce over the years.
He said he was hopeful that one of the reasons pineapple production would resume would be a juice manufacturing plant in the area.
He lamented that the fruits could not be easily sold on the local market due to imported pineapples that had flooded the market.
He said most chain stores stocked imported pineapples at the expense of promoting local production, adding that the idea by the Ministry of Commerce to formulate a local content policy would help more farmers sell their produce.
"Being a pineapple farmer is really difficult while we have a small market we still compete with imported pineapples that usually get preference from consumers,” Mr Mulwanshi said.