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THE late onset of the rains has delayed planting of soya beans, a situation which may result in reduced yield. Ideally, Soya beans should be planted from November 15 to December 15 after the first rains. Soya bean, which now contributes 50 percent of cooking oil production, can also be used in a variety of ways including as a substitute for meat since it is highly nutritious, as fertiliser as well as animal feeds.

National Soya beans Promotion Taskforce chairperson Sheunesu Mupepereki told New Ziana that soya bean farmers had not planted the crop.

“No soaking rains have been received so far for soya bean seeds to germinate and we aren’t sure when rains are expected as they’ve become unpredictable and this will negatively impact on production output,” he said.

Mupepereki said late rains would result in a short planting season.

“The production output is going down this year by just looking at the way the rains have delayed and this will not give farmers enough time to grow the crop,” he said.

Local production had declined to as little as 37,000 tons in 2010 from a peak of 170,000 tons in 2001 against a national requirement of 200,000 tons for stockfeed and cooking oil production.

Last year, the country produced 150,000 tons against the national target of 250,000 tonnes.

Zimbabwe has a soya beans crushing capacity of 450,000 tons but the industry is currently operating below 10 percent capacity utilisation.

This year soyabeans farmers received a major boost form the Presidential Well-wishers Agricultural Input Scheme with farmers getting 25 kg of seeds and 20kg of fertiliser. The move was aimed at increasing food security levels in the country. – New Ziana