Story by Stanley James, Business Editor
ZIMBABWE has significantly reduced cooking oil imports, with focus on increasing financing towards local oil seed production to consolidate gains.
An Oil Expressers Indaba held in Harare this Tuesday has reviewed overall performance of the sector, amid indications 90 per cent of cooking oil in retail shelves is produced locally.
Oil Expressers Association representative, Mr Rod Musiyiwa says focus is now on localising the oil seed production chains.
“The path to growth has been on a positive trend because since 2019, we have seen massive investments leading to self-sufficiency. Basically the market is over 90 per cent being supplied by local cooking oil production, but the challenge facing the sector is on the imports of soya beans, sunflowers, cotton seed among others, so we are gathering here to find the real possible solutions,” he said.
While Zimbabwe has slashed the huge import bill for cooking oil, thereby saving foreign currency, the current stable economic environment is anticipated to further boost production
“Indeed a lot is still needed to be done as part of consolidating the current gains. In fact, it is important to focus on long term gains that is facilitating competitiveness of the local goods,” said Buy Zimbabwe General Manager, Mr Alois Burutsa.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union Secretary General, Mr Paul Zakariya says the agricultural sector is ready to work with cooking oil producing firms by increasing output for oil seeds.
“This Indaba has seen it fit for us to therefore sit together and focus on long term strategies that is contract farming. The land is there, but it is the issue of financial support, technical expertise and capacitation of the farmers that is of greater importance in ensuring growth.”
Availability of locally produced cooking oil in the market is one of the strides achieved by the government under the National Development Strategy One aspirations of food security.
