Consumers have expressed concern over the poor quality of onion that local farmers have been supplying to various supermarkets since government suspended the import of onion and potatoes in February this year, following an outcry from farmers.
However, Touchwood Estates Managing Director Williem Grobler says Zambia is capable of growing good quality onion as it has the ideal soil to grow very good onion for both consumption and export.
Grobler, who’s farm is located in Mkushi, grows 25 hectares of onion per season and produces close to one and half thousand tonnes of onion adding that the farm employs about 300-400 people for a period of four months when harvesting.
Speaking in an interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Grobler said government’s decision to suspend the importation of onion would help the country develop, as there is no reason why Zambia should continue to import onions which in turn exports jobs.
He noted that farmers in other countries have huge subsidies whereas Zambia has very high fuel costs and as a landlocked country, everything has to be imported to produce a product in Zambia therefore allowing imports only hurts the country’s economy.
“I harvest in August, marketeers come and buy them on the farm. It is freedom of market and I feel just the taxes need to be right, if somebody wants a pink onion that comes from America and they are willing to pay $20 for it then they can. That’s free market but if they are importing onion into Zambia which is cheaper than what local farmers are able to produce then that’s breaking the Zambian economy”, he said.
Grobler said in a country where unemployment is already high, it is a good thing for Zambians to be able to grow crops such as onions, which the country can benefit from instead of other countries that bring their products into Zambia.
“Countries like South Africa and Brazil machine harvest onions and don’t pick them by hand so Zambia is losing out when it has to import things and also has to find forex to pay for those things. If they were paid for in Zambian currency in South Africa then that’s a different story but that’s not the case meaning forex is going out of the country”, he said.
He mentioned that the biggest challenges farmers producing onion experience have to do with storage facilities and onion dryers adding that the cost of putting up an onion dryer is very expensive.
Grobler commended government on the suspension of customs duty on onion driers and other agricultural machinery as this will help address some of the challenges farmers face when it comes to onion production.
He said government should continue to put in place measures that will be able to build the country adding that Zambia needs to focus on increasing production and be able to develop a market for onion, which is huge as the country can export into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other countries.
