ZAM wants more investment in edible oil
MORE local investment is needed for Zambia to realise its potential to produce oilseeds following the huge demand currently available in the country.
Increasing investment will reduce costs in imported crude palm oil, says Zambia Association of Manufacturers (ZAM) Chief Executive Officer, Florence Muleya.
Ms Muleya said this would help Zambia move from a plantation to the establishment of a palm processing plant that would be able to meet the country’s demand for palm oil and decrease imports.
"Zambia is faced with an increasing edible oil deficit which is serviced by imports of edible oils that are worth more than US$200 Million per annum.
"Edible oils are sourced mainly from vegetable products and in Zambia, the major oilseed used in the production of edible oils is soybeans which accounts for 60 percent of local production, cotton seed oil extraction accounts for 19 percent while sunflower oil accounts for 15 percent," she said.
Ms Muleya stressed that the
importance of edible oils to the economy could not be emphasised.
She indicated that apart from the vegetable oilseeds used in the production of edible oils, Zambia also used palm oil in the edible industry.
Ms Muleya said crude palm oil was largely imported and locally processed into palm oil but had proven to be expensive to acquire.
"Whilst manufacturers source their oil seed raw materials such as soybeans and sunflower from local farmers, the farmed oilseeds are not enough to meet the local pro
cessors demand.
"Low production of raw materials utilised in the production of edible oils has thus led to the domination of crude oil imports in Zambia’s trade bill, nonetheless, imports of refined edible oil have also been on the rise in the recent past," she said.
She explained that one of the major factors identified was that Government had prioritised and put much focus on the production of maize through the input and marketing subsidies provided through the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP).
Ms Muleya said focus on maize had created little appetite for crop diversification by smallholder farmers into other high value crops such as soybeans
"Despite the large market and demand for edible oils, the potential for growth of the local supply of oilseeds is limited by little technical support and policy challenges.
"Several factors are identified as constraints to the upscaling of the production of oil seeds such as sunflower and soybeans used in the production of edible oils," Ms Muleya said.