Farmers to benefit from paprika

SMALL-SCALE farmers in Sinazongwe, Southern Province, will benefit from a paprika and marigold growing project in next two to three years.

A Chinese company has been conducting trial cultivation to ensure harmony between the local climate and the crop varieties for the best harvests.

Chenguang Biotech Zambia Agri-dev Limited is a division of Chenguang Biotech Group Co. Ltd which is an agri-processing company.

It deals in paprika oleoresin, marigold oleoresin and capsicum oleoresin ranking as number one on world market.

The company enjoys a 55 percent market share.

It is expected to engage small-scale farmers in the growing of paprika and marigold in the next two to three years for processing and exporting as out growers.

Company manager Rudolph Liu said an exclusive interview the project started three years ago but is still assessing the climate conditions and other environmental issues before engaging small- scale farmers.

Mr Rudolph said in the first year of production, Chenguang Biotech Zambia grew the two crops on two hectares and 30 hectares the following year.

He said this year the company has tried the crop on 60 hectares in Lusaka West.

The yield has gone up to six metric tonnes per hectare, which is 360 metric tonnes of the production.

“However, we are hoping to get more after several seasons’ trials. These crops are totally grown for export to Europe and America. So, the few crops we export have satisfied our clients,” Mr Rudolph said.

“This year we want to try on eight hectares to improve the yield from currently six metric tonnes per hectare to seven metric tonnes per hectare, at least to make sure that the crops will benefit the farmers who will be growing it so that they don’t get bad results.”

Mr Rudolph said so far there were few challenges except that the company was not yet very familiar with the climate conditions in Zambia.

It was still learning about the local conditions with the aim of improving yields.

He said in the three years of production and processing, the company had engaged 300 to 400 local people at its farm.

The good part of the project was that there was no need to use centre pivots.

Instead the company used drip irrigation, which small-scale farmers could afford.

He was confident that the project would be a success because of good government policies and Zambia’s good climate.

Paprika is a ground spice made from dried red fruits of the larger and sweeter varieties of the plant Capsicum annuum, called bell pepper or sweet pepper.

Chenguang Biotech Zambia Agri-dev Limited will process the crops into high-valued oleoresin in Zambia and export it to earn Zambia foreign exchange.